No cats. But I plan to get one when I’ve finished uni and have a job.
Well, actually, if I had one of the two phones in the house in my room, and the other one couldn’t be heard outside the room it was in, if there was a history of the phone ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing while I was trying to sleep, I think I would be mighty tempted to turn the ringer off…
Ethilrist has a good point here. The only ‘good’ phone in the house is in your brother’s room? What sense does that make?
Choices:
a) get an answering machine ($15 US)
b) get a loud ringing phone or separate ringing device for the kitchen ($15 US)
c) get a phone cord splitter, extension cord and a new phone, located strategically ($25 US)
d) get a cordless phone and keep it with you ($40 US)
Sorry, I should have been clearer. The phone is in the living room, not my brothers room. There is a phone point in his room, but there is no phone attached to it.
e) get voicemail if available–no machines or tape to bother with, and you can pick up your messages from any phone. The local phone in my area offers it for about $5 US per month. But I have no idea if you can get that in your part of the world.
Voicemail is a free option, through British Telecom (1571). Problem is, because just about everyone can have it you never know whether anyone actually uses it. Still, I think I’d go for that if I were you Gemma.
J.
I always turn off the ringer. I work nights and sleep during the day. Sometimes I forget to turn it back on.
Does your brother slepp durung the day?
Kind of. He works during the day Monday to Friday, and on weekend doesn’t tend to get up untill the afternoon. He can sleep through anything though so the phone wouldn’t be a problem. (He alarm doesn’t wake him up. Someone else who hears it has to go and wake him up.)
My guess would be that he turns off the ringer because it’s annoying, it disturbs him, and he doesn’t wish to receive calls. He’s probably also not keen on acting as your secretary.
Since you’re the one who wants phone calls so badly, you ought to park yourself by the phone to be sure to be the one who answers it, and promptly, so that the ringing doesn’t irritate everyone else in the house.
And just check when you get home to see if the ringer is turned on.
why is this a problem? buy an extended phone cord and a 5 dollar phone, and stick it in your room.
buy an answering machine for 10 bucks.
call back the places you apply to yourself and check up on your applications.
any one of the above are really easy solutions, and are all actually pretty common practices among normal people. even if you do end up bitching at your brother enough that he stops turning the ringer off, you probably ought to at least get an answering machine.
also, ask your mom and dad whether they were the ones that turned it off in the first place. “nobody does it but him, so he must have done it” isnt really enough to condemn someone on, and usually people wont lie about such things.
last bit of advice: pick better fights than this one. you turning the ringer on might annoy him as much as him turning it off annoys you. neither one of you would be justified for it, and you both have to live together anyway. what’s more important? saving five bucks for a phone or an answering machine, or living in peace with the people in your house?
It’s quite simple. If he doesn’t want calls he should tell me to tell people he’s not in. This isn’t the case anyway, as he would have let me know that was the reason he switched off the ringer.
I have a life. and a boyfriend. This means spending the day by the phone is not possible. I go shopping. I visit friends. I go and play pool, I go bowling and visit my boyfriend etc.
Update - Mobile phone number is given out. Although the bad reception here means I’m unlikely to get the call, at least people can leave a message and I can call them back.
What’s up with wanting your phone to ring being abnormal? Grow up, Enigma. Gemma’s got a valid point that you expect your damn phone to ring when someone’s calling you. Yes, she could pay out for some piece of mind but then the brother could actually be considerate and buy some fucking earmuffs if he doesn’t want to hear it ringing. Okay, so the parents could have done it but from the sounds of it everyone knows it was the brother.
Your brother’s just being an jerk, Gem. Give him a kick up the ass for me, and at least find out why the hell he’s doing it (If he’s doing it, happy now Enigma.)
Thanks nocturnal_tick. 
And yes, if someone is calling me I expect the god damn phone to ring!
And I would kick his ass. But he is a lot taller and stronger then me. I doubt he’ll do it again anytime soon though. There’s no way he could deny it twice.
Nothing really to add, although I relate a little with your brother insofar as I also tend to turn the ringer on my phone off. But, if I was living with someone who really wanted to have the ringer on I suppose I would oblige. Incidently, my sister is coming to live with me soon, but given that she’s almost as anti-social as I am I doubt the phone thing will be a problem. 
Turning the ringer of a household telephone off when you’re the only one around and you don’t want to be disturbed for some reason is one thing, and is acceptable.
However, turning the ringer of a household telephone off and leaving it off for extended periods of time when others are about and might be expecting phone calls is not acceptable. Especially so when you’re not even in the house – and note that Gemma had to call her brother on his mobile about the problem, so that’s the case here. What he did – and seems a good chance that it was him – is simply inconsiderate, selfish, stupid behavior. No matter his reasoning, inconveniencing the rest of the household and possibly jeopardizing your sister’s employment prospects really can’t be explained away.
Nuts to dumb brothers. Give him a good what for when you can, Gemma. He deserves it.
You’re very welcome and yes you bloody well should expect it. 