I got a call today, Tuesday. I had to pause the X-Prize webcast, and now I can’t get it to start again, and that alone deserves great pain.
annoying cordless phone ringannoying base station ring annoying cordless phone ring <picked up phone> annoying base station ring
(yes, the base station continues ringing after the telephone part, so you can answer the phone and still have the phone ring once, blessing you and them with an overamplified screeching twitter to start your conversation)
Me: Hello?
Dentatan twat: Hi, I had a call from this number on my caller ID.
Me: Ok.
Encephally spongiform bovine: It was on Saturday, do you remember calling me?
Me: No…
Brainless cur: The number is 232-9NNN, either Dopey, Curly, or Dingus Santorum.
Me: No, I don’t recall calling you.
Chunder sucker: Ok, must have been a wrong number… <said like she didn’t believe me>
/me hangs up
When did your phone number become so sacrosanct that you hunt down anyone who calls you without scheduling it in advance? If I did call you (which is unlikely as I don’t call anyone) I’d leave you a message if I didn’t catch you and I really wanted to talk to you. If it was a wrong number, what would you gain by calling me back? You’ve turned a mistake into an intentional waste of time. And there has to be some sort of statute of limitations on calling wrong numbers; if you don’t confront me within five minutes, you can’t call me three days later.
So I kindly request that you nestle your caller ID box about two inches left of your appendix, taking care to rip each sphincter between here and there. If I’m lucky, someone will call you while you’re in the act, and the reptilian brain in your tailbone (a la Apatosaurus, true or not) is activated by the 50 volts of alternating current that is the ring signal. Because it’s apparent that your other brain hasn’t been used since Timmy in third grade showed his love for you by hitting you in the head with a rock.
I only wish I’d written down their number, so that I could call her back in three days, asking who called me and why.
I expect calls from places I wouldn’t know the number. I get calls from numbers I don’t recognize. In order to reconcile my expectations with events, I will call numbers I don’t recognize to find out just such a thing. Sorry. I see no reasonable alternative.
I hate it when people use Caller ID to call me back. Hey, if I was calling you for some ‘unique to you’ reason, then I left you a message. If I didn’t leave a message it means I was going to invite you to see a movie THAT night, or come over to hang out, or just chat. And since you weren’t available I called another friend instead – and why do I have to explain this to you a day later? Sheesh.
I always call the numbers back that I don’t recognize. Just to satisfy my own curiousty. For me personally I get SO curious almost to the point of a compulsive disorder.
And GAH! don’t get me started on those assholes who call me with that caller id block thing!! :mad: I really hate those assholes!
I have caller ID and I always return the call of people who have tried to contact me whilst I’m out. People who have a problem with this are free to not call me, or to use the ‘number withheld’ function.
Yeah, but plenty of people use caller ID to screen calls, or even to block calls that don’t identify themselves. So there are specific, legitimate reasons that other people might not want to block their number.
I completely don’t understand this & I’ve had it happen to me a couple of times. You have caller id and an answering machine. If I meant to call you and didn’t get you, I’d leave a message if whatever I called you about was important. If you don’t recognize my number and there was no message left, then why would you feel the need to call back? Wouldn’t the normal thing to assume be that it was a wrong number? If it was your long-lost cousin Eugene or the Reader’s Digest Prize Patrol, they would leave a message.
I know quite a few people who don’t like answering machines, and will not leave a message. The lack of a message does not necessarily mean that there is no information to be passed.
Don’t do that to Wikkit. You might interrupt important computer time and cause his faulty phone (I loved this part of the rant. Wikkit has shitty telephone equipment so he complains whenever its in use) to screech.
There’s so many ways that Wikkit can fix this that the lameness of this rant just oozes out of the SDMB.
I understand calling someone back whose name/number you recognize–I do that too, especially with people who don’t like to leave messages.
I just don’t understand calling someone back whose name/number you don’t know. Why wouldn’t you assume that it was a wrong number, not that your best pal was calling you from someone else’s house. If it WAS my best pal, then the onus is on them to keep trying to reach me or else leave a message. If it was important, they’ll call back.
If you are really curious about who is calling, use reverse phone number look up.
I have never called a number I didn’t recognize. I figure if it was someone who wanted to get in touch with someone at my house they will either call back or it wasn’t important.
I wouldn’t ever call someone back based on Caller ID unless it is a member of my immediate family. I think it strange to be obsessed with people that called and didn’t leave a message. Then again, I am thrilled when the phone rings, I don’t answer it, and there is no message. One less thing for me to deal with. If they do leave a message however, they can rest assured that they have at least a 50% chance that I will call them back.