God, yes. ALL OF THIS. Also, why would people not text before calling? I have the need to hook up hearing technology that gives me a socially acceptable reason to request this courtesy, but I think it should be standard. Why would anyone not vastly prefer this for both parties? It enables the caller to know they're calling at a good time and the callee to choose to receive calls when they can give the caller their full attention. And once established as a norm, it's actually a net safety *increase* -- if I call anyone without texting first, they know it's important. Not necessarily "life and death emergency" territory, but urgent, and they answer expecting such, and the issue is typically resolved much more efficiently than it otherwise would be.
I suspect that the stone faced cashier that neither greets or thanks customers for their purchase is making this kind of phone call…lack of basic courtesy/etiquette.
My parents were friends with a couple whose kids were our age. One of the kids would answer the phone with "What?!" He answered a call from my mom like that one day and she scolded him thoroughly. I was mortified at the time. Now, I am rather glad I committed it to memory so I can savor it from time to time.
Also: prank phone calls. Used to be a thing before caller ID. Mom would rip them a new one if they were unlucky enough to get her on the phone.
Love your reference to Tomlin's phone operator bit! "We are omnipotent. We're the telephone company - we screw everybody." Still have a record of that, still funny!
I hadn't realized it until I read this article but most of the calls I get are junk, and most of the callers do ask first if I am <name>. I often reply, who's calling? before confirming my name. And they are almost always trying to get me to share personal information, or telling me I paid for some travel package (which I did not), and that they want to help me use it, or some other intrusion. I was taught not to be rude to people and never to hang up on them, but I have do to that now all the time. It has taken a while not to feel guilty about the rudeness but I tell myself, I didn't ask them to call, I don't know them, and they were rude first by calling and bothering me.
For work, I call people who put me on speaker, don't tell me I'm on speaker, allow me to go into great detail about a private situation involving their child's trauma, and then scold me for saying such things when I'm speaker because they have people in the car with them. I literally ask "is now a good time to talk?" I literally say "first I'll schedule the appointment, then I'll explain the procedure in more detail."
Begging your pardon, Josh. I recently became a paid subscriber... I think. I did get to comment here. But on today's post, 8/12/23, I was unable to comment because I'm not a paid subscriber. I came back to this thread as the only way to ask. Thank you for taking time to check.
Thanks for the support, and I'm sorry for that hiccup. I do not know what may be causing it. No, I have not taken any actions to limit any user's comments.
Are you willing to close your browser window, re open, and try again? That will help me troubleshoot.
I will not be able to chase down this problem today if it continues to be a problem, but I will attend to it later, if necessary.
You are a dear! It must have been the cyber monkey that torments me. I was able to comment in a different place. All is well.....here anyway! Thank you! ☺️
100 times this.
God, yes. ALL OF THIS. Also, why would people not text before calling? I have the need to hook up hearing technology that gives me a socially acceptable reason to request this courtesy, but I think it should be standard. Why would anyone not vastly prefer this for both parties? It enables the caller to know they're calling at a good time and the callee to choose to receive calls when they can give the caller their full attention. And once established as a norm, it's actually a net safety *increase* -- if I call anyone without texting first, they know it's important. Not necessarily "life and death emergency" territory, but urgent, and they answer expecting such, and the issue is typically resolved much more efficiently than it otherwise would be.
I have that in my voicemail message. "Leave a voicemail if you like, but I'm easier to reach by text message."
I suspect that the stone faced cashier that neither greets or thanks customers for their purchase is making this kind of phone call…lack of basic courtesy/etiquette.
Miss Manners was a daily contributor to my hometown newspaper. We learned a lot from her and Dear Abby.
I have all of Miss Manners' books.
My parents were friends with a couple whose kids were our age. One of the kids would answer the phone with "What?!" He answered a call from my mom like that one day and she scolded him thoroughly. I was mortified at the time. Now, I am rather glad I committed it to memory so I can savor it from time to time.
Also: prank phone calls. Used to be a thing before caller ID. Mom would rip them a new one if they were unlucky enough to get her on the phone.
"Is this the party to whom I am speaking?"
Love it!
Yes!!
Love your reference to Tomlin's phone operator bit! "We are omnipotent. We're the telephone company - we screw everybody." Still have a record of that, still funny!
I have This is a Recording on 33 LP myself!
I hadn't realized it until I read this article but most of the calls I get are junk, and most of the callers do ask first if I am <name>. I often reply, who's calling? before confirming my name. And they are almost always trying to get me to share personal information, or telling me I paid for some travel package (which I did not), and that they want to help me use it, or some other intrusion. I was taught not to be rude to people and never to hang up on them, but I have do to that now all the time. It has taken a while not to feel guilty about the rudeness but I tell myself, I didn't ask them to call, I don't know them, and they were rude first by calling and bothering me.
For work, I call people who put me on speaker, don't tell me I'm on speaker, allow me to go into great detail about a private situation involving their child's trauma, and then scold me for saying such things when I'm speaker because they have people in the car with them. I literally ask "is now a good time to talk?" I literally say "first I'll schedule the appointment, then I'll explain the procedure in more detail."
My apologies, Miss Tomlin. I must have dialled the lesbian party line by mistake. ❤😂
I knew there was a reason there were so many short-nailed ladies in the exchange this week!
Begging your pardon, Josh. I recently became a paid subscriber... I think. I did get to comment here. But on today's post, 8/12/23, I was unable to comment because I'm not a paid subscriber. I came back to this thread as the only way to ask. Thank you for taking time to check.
Hi Patty,
Thanks for the support, and I'm sorry for that hiccup. I do not know what may be causing it. No, I have not taken any actions to limit any user's comments.
Are you willing to close your browser window, re open, and try again? That will help me troubleshoot.
I will not be able to chase down this problem today if it continues to be a problem, but I will attend to it later, if necessary.
Thank you again.
You are a dear! It must have been the cyber monkey that torments me. I was able to comment in a different place. All is well.....here anyway! Thank you! ☺️