Sorry, but YOU called ME. It takes less time out of my busy surfing of the SDMB to quickly say, “Sorry, but I am reading the latest bullshit. Let me know if you have anything important enough to switch to.” than it is to have to dial into my voicemail, enter my password, listen to your introduction, your babbling of your message, then hit the right number to delete (which is different on the 3 phone systems I use every day).
Let me repeat - YOU CALLED ME. If you do not like how I answer the phone, then do not fucking call me. Yes - I switch over because I am giving you credit that you MIGHT have something important to tell me. However, if I am talking to someone else who is MORE important, I will give you 30 seconds to justify your existence on my line. If you go to voicemail, I MIGHT call you back tomorrow.
Fuck - people who call me get what they fucking deserve.
My wife gets a “really busy, I love you, what’s up?”
My son gets a “are you bleeding or on fire?”
My CEO gets a “What’s up, I am on the phone with {bigclient}?”
{bigclient} gets triaged based on bigness vs. other clients.
Everyone else can just fucking deal, and they do. Over beer, we can all laugh about how we survived before SMS, crackberry, cell phones, home internet, etc. The reality is, however, that we are all expected to be in touch with each other constantly, and that has created new rules of engagement. One of those rules is that when you call me, you need to tell me why. If not, call my secretary and make an appointment.
Heh–my husband used to do this when we were dating. Not standing in front of a jet engine, just answering when he really couldn’t talk. One time, he answered the phone in the damn bathroom. I told him repeatedly that it was cute that he was so eager to take my calls, but ultimately kind of upsetting to be told, “Hi, I can’t talk.” I’m really OK with leaving a voicemail.
You would looooove my mother-in-law. She’s a therapist, who I refuse to call during the day, because her response is usually something like, ‘‘Hi, how are you?’’ (lets you talk for a minute). ‘‘Hey, would you mind if I called you back later? I’m in a session right now.’’
Wow, lady, thanks for making me complicit in your rudeness and unprofessionalism. If I were her client I think I would have to reach out and smash her phone into little bits. It would be most therapeutic.
I’m with the OP 100% on this one. My girlfriend will often answer the phone in a whisper “I’m in class, I can’t talk now” click . Drives me up the wall it does! I just want to leave a voicemail for her to pick up something from the store on her way home, and I might not be in a position to call when she is out of class. Give me your voicemail woman!
I rarely use text messages so I’m not 100% sure, but I feel confident in saying that on my cell phone contract I get charged for each text message. It’s also faster to talk than it is to type in a message.
It may have been you that said this, but it certainly was a Doper:
I pay money to have a phone in my home for my enjoyment and convenience, not anyone else’s. If it serves as a convenience to others, then that is a good, secondary bonus.
But I will not alter my behavior in any way at all due to the phone, which I paid for, in my home. My home is a place of sanctuary and peace for me, and if you dial my phone number trying to reach me, then you will play by my rules.
If you don’t like my rules, then don’t call my phone.
Well my feeling is that if the person on the other end would prefer a text message, then they can indicate this to me by not answering the call. I mean, I try not to call when I know someone is busy, but I can’t have everyone’s schedule memorized.
And absolutely, if its your phone you can use it how you want, I can just not call you anymore. That’s more or less what I did with my friend.
A) I’m a female.
&
B) I call because I need some kind of help/advice. If I leave a voicemail and don’t get any resolution in any way, it’s unusual. In our department/mill we are all reliant on one another to do the bulk of our jobs. If they never got back to me, they’d be just as stuck. People I call outside work don’t usually answer in the ‘OP offending fashion’.
olives, that is too mortifying and funny; your reaction is exactly what mine would be. That’s why I hesitate to call my brother’s cellphone at all - he delivers RV’s and if he’s seen on his cell while driving by someone who turns him in he can get in big trouble. But if I call him he always thinks it’s an emergency and feels he should answer. Hence, I just don’t ever call him. (Yes, I know that if he’s dumb enough to jeopardize his job I should let him, but my brother’s a whole other thread.)
Let me reiterate that this is almost exclusively a work issue. (For me. Sounds like other people run into it in their civilian life too.)
I understand this one. I called a music teacher friend a couple of days ago. He answered, chatted with me for a couple of minutes, and then said, “well, I’d better get back to my student now.” I felt horrible for the student.
Had he let it go to voicemail, I would have said, “Hi, it’s Wombat. Want to meet me for a drink around 5:30?” He could have called me at his leisure to respond. If I was unavailable when he called, he could have left a one-sentence message telling me whether he could meet me or not, and I wouldn’t have stepped on any lesson time.
My office is in my home. Sorry, but if I happen to be waiting for a quote from a vendor so a proposal can be finished or an important customer inquiry can be addressed, and you call me about non-urgent business, I’m going to get you off the line as quickly as possible.
Sometimes I can BS on the phone, and other times I can’t. I accept that the same possibilities exist when I call you, and don’t get my knickers in a wad if you’re rushed. Deal with it.
