Sometimes, yes, it really is just te tone of voice when someone speaks to you, especially when you cannot see their face. My dad had severe, spastic Cerebral Palsy, and would walk out of restaurants when the server turned to my mother to ask "And what will HE have?"

The tone was distinctly over-cheerful, syrupy, with a "strange" (to a barely-thirteen-year-old) emphasis on the word "he." It took a decade to pick apart the differences between the way people talked to Dad or to me (mild Cerebral Palsy, very strange gait as a result). I got open hostility or pity with very little nuance, and tons of very rude staring until I looked like an adult. Then the other layers of behavior kicked in. Draw your own conclusions.

So, anyone in a phone call, especially if they are supposed to be helping me, who drops into that combination of vocal tone and verbal behaviors-- like repeating something i just said in syrupy tone-- is going to get cut off in seconds, with complaints to their supervisor.

Now picture someone who is courteous, pauses to let me catch up when I blurt, "Waitasec!" as one word, or simply slows down when they hear me scribbling on paper to make notes, especially of phone numbers. ALL of these behaviors have also led to, "May I speak to your supervisor? I'd like them to know that you've been particularly helpful."

Trying to explain to them WHY "just doing my job" can be amazingly, depressingly novel for someone is more than most people have time or energy to grapple with, so I leave it up to them whether they connect the supervisor.

Following procedure is sometimes not done... well. Okay, its a sloppy, scrambled mess. But if your company or department has a low turnover rate, that's not likely to be as much of an issue. I don't know about that side of it.

My money is on simple courtesy impressing them to bits.