On some phone calls I make I am under no illusions that the other party’s private reaction won’t be different from the reaction to me. So it sometimes goes like this:
(into the phone) “Yes, tschild, I’ll certainly correct that. Thanks for pointing it out. 'Bye.”
::hangs up::
(to colleague) Shit, another of those unnecessary tweaks from tschild
What affords me some small private amusement is that some few people have never been told that they need to work a bit on their timing - they begin their bitching and moaning when the receiver is on its way to its cradle. So I get a half-second’s worth of what I was not meant to hear
No, but I am absolutely paranoid that I will be guilty of bad timing. I triple check that the phone is off and/or the call is disconnected before I let fly what I really wanted to say.
It’d probably be easier if I just kept my mouth shut instead.
One time I called a guy about a getting a home inspection done, and got his voicemail. He called me back 5 minutes later, and got my voicemail. He left a nice message, then apparently didn’t press the hangup button on his mobile phone hard enough, then proceeded to complain about assholes who leave him a message and don’t have the common fucking courtesy to answer the phone when he calls back. I called him back and played the voicemail for him, then told him I wouldn’t be requiring his services.
I work in a call center, so I hear it fairly regularly.
On my end, I make sure the caller has hung up before I kvetch about the person to another worker. Fortunately I don’t get too many callers who deserve such derision.
I enjoy the private comments on the store PA systems when they don’t hang up properly, or they answer a phone call on the PA instead. Hello. May I help you. Hello. Hello. Son of a bitch hung up.
This happened to me the other night. I spent maybe 20 minutes on the phone with someone, then hung up. I said goodbye, the rendered my opinion of her out loud. To my horror, I hadn’t quite yet hung up. Fortunately, my opinion was a positive one.
There is a reason I don’t use the mute button on the phone at work unless I need to cough or something. I save my swearing until I’ve hung up, and for me that means hitting a button on the phone and removing my headset.
