Asimovian, I wouldn’t always consider it rude if you answered to inform the caller that you will have to call them back. However, if you and I were at a business lunch or engaged in important conversation, yeah, I’d be pissed. There is a reason for voicemail.
My partner and I differ on cell phone usage and when it’s impolite. FTR, we are 8 years apart in age. If she and I are watching a movie I will either not answer mine or answer to tell the person I will call them back. She will answer and have a friggin’ meaningless conversation with the caller while I have to wait . Sometimes this is half an hour. If we watched movies alot maybe this wouldn’t seem so bad but we rarely if ever have alone time so it pisses me off if we decide to watch a flick and she wants to yap on the phone.
I also find it rude, that when you are engaged in an “important” discussion, to answer your cell phone while making the other person wait. I could start a pit thread about that. One thing I will never do, if any of my friends, or my partner and I are talking, say a friend is upset and needs a shoulder, I would never cut them off to answer my friggin’ phone. It’s rude beyond belief. My partner, on the other hand, will answer her phone. Grrr.
Thank you for all your responses. See, I knew it was inappropriate to do what my friend does, but she does it so often that and so unapologetically, that I had just the slightest bit of doubt on it being inconsiderate. I thought maybe, just maybe, I was blowing it out of proportion. Like I mentioned before, I don’t get a lot of calls, when I do get them, I either keep it brief if it’s important (another friend and I have made plans for the next day and she’s calling for a quick confirmation) or don’t answer (my parents calling me to check up on me :rolleyes: ). Said friend in my OP will answer the phone under the guise of making/confirming quickly on plans with another friend, but then continue to have a conversation with him/her. I’m thinking about sending my friend a link to this thread, but I’m not sure how she’ll take it.
Seriously, if you don’t want to tell her to her face that she’s rude and that you’re not going to stand for it anymore (which is what i think you should do), then why not link her to this thread? At least then she might realize that it’s her that’s being an ass, and that your feelings are shared by quite a few people.