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Why the phone is the hardest thing in the office
New employees in Japan are trained on the telephone before almost anything else, and there is a published literature of 電話応対 manuals, scripts and even competitive contests. The reason is that a call forces every decision at once and gives you no time: you must place the caller inside or outside the company, pick the verb set that follows, hold a name you have heard once, and do it in the first four seconds. Face to face you have the room and the business card to tell you where you stand. On the phone you have a voice. This is also why 電話が怖い is a thing young Japanese employees say about their own language, and why the standard advice — paper and pen before you lift the receiver — is the advice Alex has already been given.