Fuck you asshole! You called me. Why the hell should I tell you who I am when I have no clue who you are. Get some fucking manners!
No, I did not call you, you called me. What do you want? Are you tickling the ivories to make a statement, or do you want something. Lonely, Bored, Get a Life, or learn to dial…
Succinct. An experience we have all had. Good rant, my man.
Must be nice never to have been distracted while dialing or have several people you must call, and forget who it is you’re calling. You can get over it and identify yourself, or you ask the caller who it is before you identify yourself. Pretty simple and not all that rude.
I must respectfully say “huh?”
When I call someone, I almost always know exactly to whom I wish to speak. If I don’t know, or am calling for a supervisor or person holding a specific office, I make a point of identifying myself and asking for help. It’s simple. It’s easy. It’s common courtesy.
Calling ME up and asking who I am with no self-identification and no preliminaries is an excellent way to get a quick dial tone.
And that’s assuming I’m having a GOOD day.
Man I HATE people who do that.
By the way: shit ass fuck lick
I’ve forgotten who I was calling a couple times (I admit it, I’m not proud), and I usually forget just as the party answers the phone. I tend to get embarassed and flustered, and rational thinking goes out the window. The only thing I can think to say is a meek “Who’s this?” Most of the time, the party I’m calling recognizes my voice and says something witty like “It sounds like Paul. Ok, see if you can guess who I am?” Mild hilarity ensues, and the situation works itself out pretty quickly.
Answering the phone only to be greeted with a gruff “Who dis?” is rude, granted, but honestly forgetting who you are calling and asking who it is that answered is not rude in and of itself, as long as you explain your unorthodox salutation.
Not that simple. Especially if you’ve had people hang up on you after you’ve identified yourself or just continue to be rude. If you forget who you’re calling, there’s nothing wrong with saying, “Hi, this is ****. I’m so sorry, I have several people I need to call right now and forgot who I just dialed. May I ask who I’m speaking with, please?” You don’t just say, “Who’s this!?”
I can see the OP’s point, the caller could have been more diplomatic. I’ve been on both sides of this event. Either I’ll call the number, and get the correct number, but the person’s friend will answer the phone (or the person will have a cold, or the person got a new number etc.) or I’ll get a call from someone who misdialed, and is puzzled because I’m definetly not John, but maybe I’m John’s new fling etc.
The caller could have said something along the lines of “I hope I haven’t misdialed, I’m calling 123-4567, have I reached that number?” if the answer is yes, than the caller can go on with, “Oh, good is John there and able to speak, this is his friend, Jane”. Not too hard to do, and certainly polite.
Or else you could pay some %&#@! attention to whosever life it is you’re about to interrupt in order to convey them a message that’s important enough to make them answer the phone over.
Yeah, I guess it is pretty nice.
For my home or mobile phone, I find the old standard “the guy who’s doing your wife [husband, daughter, dog, or whatever’s appropriate]” works pretty well as a response.
There’s a little old lady who calls me about twice a week and says “who’s this?” I always imagine she has family with a similar number and they have many females in the house and she’s just trying to figure out which one I am. She sounds like a sweet little nona so I don’t give her any attitude about it. I have the impression that she asks that question about a dozen times before she locates her actual daughter so I cut her some slack.
On the other hand I get a lot of “who’s this” calls at work and they are almost always wrong numbers. I always answer “who are you looking for.” I’m not telling some idiot my name. Maybe they just want to write it down so they can telemarket me for the rest of my whole life. No way jose! Nobody I know would ever be that rude.
If I am in a reasonable mood I respond with “who’s this?”
If not, a simple “huh” repeated as necessary will usually frustrate the caller all the way to my level of irritation (and hopefully beyond - sure it’s childish but I’m ok with that).
I get that kind of call often enough for it to actually be an issue and think it is basically some rude shit to say this to someone who just answered the phone.
“Who’s this?”
“This is Ralph The Wonder Llama, the Packbeast to the Stars - I do celebrity impressions, barmitzvahs, and regularly appear on Radio KLAM-FM as a guest host. In summer I like to go swimming with my friends, and one day I wish to be a Paratrooper for the Bavarian Army. Thanks for calling! Bye now!”
click
“If you don’t know, then you obviously have the wrong number. Goodbye!”
<click>
GuanoLad
That is a good answer. I usually call myself Gordo Das Wunder Chimp.
Sometimes when I call someone a completely strange voice answers the phone. In that case, I’m worried that I’ve dialed the wrong number and instead of hanging up on them like a jerk, I politely ask them who I’m speaking to. Sometimes the person that has answered is a relative from out-of-town that I’m not expected to know.
When someone calls me and asks me who they’re talking to, I ask them who they want to talk to. Sometimes it’s the wrong number, sometimes it’s someone trying to reach me that doesn’t recognize my voice (who knows? Maybe I have a cold and sound different).
No need to get hateful about it, IMHO.
There is a difference between a polite question and a rude one. Here is how the conversation went:
Me: Hello?
some guy: (something in spanish)
Me: What?
some guy: Who’s this?
Me: Who are you?
some guy: Who’s this?
Me: You called me, asshole.
some guy: (hangs up)
Of course, he calls back again 5 minutes later and (almost) the same thing happens again.
If someone had called me and said “Excuse me, with whom am I speaking?” it would have been quite different, and I wouldn’t have gotten upset about that.
Um, what’s wrong with, “Is Sylvia there, please?” in this situation?