Line #25 Main/OperatorsAreStandingBy


1	->''"...and if lines are busy, call again."''
2
3	Yet another phrase heard in direct sale advertisements. If they're flashing a phone number on the screen, then you can bet you will be told that the operators are standing by, waiting for you to give their drab, dull lives meaning.
4
5	It implies (without ever actually saying it) that the offer is only for a limited time, and that those operators may ''stop'' standing by at any moment, so you'd better get your order in ''right now''. In fact, some of these advertisements actually include a ticking clock, suggesting that once the ad or paid program is over, nobody will be there to take your call. There will be, of course; since commercials can be seen these days at any time of the day or night, order desks are generally staffed continuously.
6
7	Actual research determined that the phrase had the opposite effect. If operators are "standing by", that must be because they don't spend very much time actually answering the phones and taking orders, because not many people are ordering the product. The phrase "If lines are busy, please keep trying" was found to work much better. If lines are busy, then the company must be swamped with orders because the product is so great. (This allows the vendor to theoretically hire fewer agents, which not only reduces the seller's overhead costs but also their apparent "supply", which -- when coupled with the [[MetaphoricallyTrue lack of contradictions at]] the customer's end of the phone line -- [[SelfFulfillingProphecy make the product seem more valuable]].)
8
9	Technically these commercials are usually incorrectly phrased. In telephone terms, an "operator" is a person who takes a call to redirect it to someone else. A person who actually takes a call to process it themselves is an "agent," and thus, they should be saying that "agents are standing by" rather than operators. However, the term "agent" is relatively modern, at least in this definition, and the average {{infomercial}} customer is over forty and is more likely to associate the word "agent" with "KGB" or "[[Series/GetSmart Maxwell Smart]]" than with "order clerk".
10
11	This phrase is often uttered at the end of a "ThisProductWillChangeYourLife" spiel. "ButWaitTheresMore" commercials will use it twice --once at the end of the initially offered, main item and one more time after offering the additional one. Compare NotAvailableInStores, a claim that implies a product is so exclusive that you can only get it by calling right now.
12	----
13	!!Examples:
14
15	[[AC:Advertisment]]
16	* ''Advertising/GetAMac'': This exact phrase is uttered by PC in one of the ads, mocking Microsoft's focus on advertising.
17	* ''Advertising/{{Progressive}} Auto Insurance'': DoubleSubverted. Kenny Mayne declares, "Operators are not standing by." When an operator contradicts him, he replies that, first, they aren't operators but "trained professionals", and second, they're all in chairs: "Trained professionals are seated comfortably."
18	* UsefulNotes/SuperBowl: In the late [[TheSeventies 1970s]], a voice-over disclaimer in an ad informs the audience that they must "Get into Federated now for a Super Bowl of savings! Operators Are Standing By! Offer not available in Squid Valley! Void where inflatable! Buy bonds!". Of course, it's a non sequitur after another, but that's just Shadoe Stevens' [[RattlingOffLegal announcing style]].
19	* Music/TimeLifeMusic: In the era before online shopping, potential customers were given a phone number to call and advised to have credit card information at hand.
20
21	[[AC:Anime & Manga]]
22	* Creator/SeijiKishi: In two of the animes he's directed (''{{Manga/Magikano}}'' and ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'') he's placed {{Parody Commercial}}s that do about every entry in AdvertisingTropes to get an InUniverse joke across. One of the closing lines, before the RattlingOffLegal, is "So, what are you waiting for? Operators Are Standing By! Call now!".
23
24	[[AC:Films -- Animation]]
25	* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'': The Junkions have strange speech patterns, prompting them to blurt nonsequiturs out of the blue. One of them starts yelling at someone to stop but ends up doing an ad for coffee and quoting this trope verbatim. The reason is that they [[AliensStealCable learned about Earth's culture and languages by our broadcasts]]. Given how advertisement-heavy those are, well...
26	--> '''Wreck-Gar:''' Stop, thief! No welcome wagon, 'hello stranger' with that good coffee flavor for you! Offer expires while you wait.
27
28	[[AC:Literature]]
29	* ''Literature/Overlord2012'': Ainz's advertisements for his lame-ass, not-actually-rune-crafted items urge potential customers by telling them that operators are standing by.
30
31	[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
32	* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': There's a TV ad offering courses on becoming call center operators. It, of course, ends with "operators are standing by".
33	* ''Series/ScreenOne'': In [[Recap/ScreenOneS4E9Ghostwatch "Ghostwatch"]], Sarah Greene's husband is handling the studio phones to receive the viewers' ghost stories.
34	* ''Series/WebSoup'': Name-dropped in an eponymous section about the strange local commercials that have found their way to the internet.
35
36	[[AC:Music]]
37	* Music/TheyMightBeGiants: This is the title of a song, which imagines what the operators are doing while they wait for you to call.
38	-->Operators are standing by\
39	Smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee\
40	Bounce their shoes at the end of their feet\
41	And wish they could go home
42
43	[[AC:Newspaper Comics]]
44	* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'': On November 15, 2004, Garfield is watching TV and sees the phrase "Operators are standing by to take your order!" He goes to the phone to tell the operators that he won't be buying anything... but as a cat, they can't actually understand him.
45	* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': PlayedForLaughs. Sally is watching one of those types of ads. She runs to get Charlie Brown, only to find out the commercial is done, and she missed the phone number that she was going to call. The last panel has Sally lying in bed with a worried look, muttering if she could sleep when she knows there's operators standing by.
46
47	[[AC:Non-Fiction]]
48	* ''Operators Are Standing By: Surefire Direct Marketing That Keeps Customers Calling!'' is named after this trope. It's a book aimed at upstarting entrepreneurs who want to improve their marketing skills.
49
50	[[AC:Radio & Podcasts]]
51	* Radio/BobAndRay: {{Parodied}} as far back as TheForties by this duo of radio satirists, who turn a sponsor's real commercials into a series of spectacularly unsuccessful efforts to 'make a simple phone call' to contact the 'trained operators' who were, according to the copy, standing by to sign customers up for a free trial TV set. "No, no, they mean we'll be out at what time's convenient to ''us'', pal. Yeah, they don't say that, do they?".
52
53	[[AC:Websites]]
54	* ''Website/TVTropes'': The fictional TropeCo/TropeCo megacorp of trope-related products ends some of its entries with some variation of this trope. Some specific examples are: "Don't delay, order now! Operators Are Standing By!" before the disclaimer in TropeCo/ForceFieldDoor; "Operators Are Standing By, and they won't give you the... cold shoulder!" as a {{pun}} in TropeCo/AnIceSuit; and "One ship size fits all! Operators Are Standing By!" in TropeCo/JollyRoger.
55
56	[[AC:Web Video]]
57	* ''LetsPlay/PlayingWithMahWii'': One of Math's ''Awkward Fears'' is phone operators.
58
59	[[AC:Western Animation]]
60	* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'': During the main event of the episode [[Recap/CelebrityDeathmatchS01E11 "37th Annual Sci-Fi Fight Night"]], Nick and Johnny start advertising some Celebrity Deathmatch merchandise that fans can call in to purchase. Johnny also quotes the trope verbatim.
61	* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': The Liquidator's sales pitch-centric dialogue includes phrases like "ButWaitTheresMore" and "Operators are standing by!".
62	* ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'': The episode "Operators Are Standing By" is titled after this trope. It's about Animal answering a phone call and not knowing what the operator is trying to sell him because he's too young.
63	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': {{Parodied}} in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E13RadioBart "Radio Bart"]]. Homer sees an advertisement for the Superstar Celebrity Microphone. [[note]]a parody of Ronco's Mr. Microphone, a short-range transmitter that would broadcast to a nearby radio via FM: "[[MemeticMutation Hey, good lookin, we'll be back to pick you up later!]]"[[/note]] Homer, convinced that his time for buying the product is running out, hastily calls and asks if there are any left. The operator there replies "Yeah, a couple." The camera then pans out to reveal that the warehouse is, in fact, full of unsold microphones.
64

Context Main / OperatorsAreStandingBy