# So I can just say anything when answering the phone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 13, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702 "2009-02-13T16:43:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/81 "2009-02-14T21:03:16Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > Anyway… I used to get calls from an area code in Georgia (I’ve never been to Georgia, nor do I know anyone there) in the wee hours of the morning. It’s possible the caller was using a calling card. I’ve picked up unrecognizable area codes to find out it was somebody I knew using a calling card. > [@](#): > > WTF? As long as you’re paying your bills, what business is it of theirs what you use the phone for? It doesn’t affect them at all, so why would it matter if it’s Uncle Joe or a client calling you? Telephone service rates have traditionally been regulated and the government generally allowed telephone companies to charge higher rates to businesses. If you are using a traditional phone line for business but paying household rates, you are in breach of contract and possibly committing fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/82 "2009-02-17T01:09:15Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > WTF? As long as you’re paying your bills, what business is it of theirs what you use the phone for? It doesn’t affect them at all, so why would it matter if it’s Uncle Joe or a client calling you? Logic doesn’t enter into it. For another example, we had an unlimited calling plan which they canceled because we used too many minutes. > [@acsenray](#): > > Telephone service rates have traditionally been regulated and the government generally allowed telephone companies to charge higher rates to businesses. If you are using a traditional phone line for business but paying household rates, you are in breach of contract and possibly committing fraud. They’re thoroughly tapped into the 19th-century paradigm of separation of work and home. This is my home phone number. My wife gets business calls on it. So do I. I’m not going to pay for a second line at outrageous rates so we can take business calls at home. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/83 "2009-02-17T03:00:24Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > They’re thoroughly tapped into the 19th-century paradigm of separation of work and home. This is my home phone number. My wife gets business calls on it. So do I. I’m not going to pay for a second line at outrageous rates so we can take business calls at home. It’s strange to label this “19th century.” How many telephones did people have at home in 1899? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/84 "2009-02-17T03:26:45Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > It’s strange to label this “19th century.” How many telephones did people have at home in 1899? I didn’t say they had phones in the 19th century. I just labeled the “you can’t use your home for work” concept as 19th century. Are you planning on getting all pedantic about my phrasing, or discussing the topic? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/85 "2009-02-17T04:05:14Z")
Cottage industry was more common in the 19th century than it is now, isn’t it? In any case, it’s still strange to call separation of work and home 19th century when it’s only recently that technology and outsourcing/contracting have become common enough to be considered a social phenomenon. In any case, the telephone company isn’t hewing to some conservative social dogma. The law and their contracts allow them to charge more for business lines. So when you use a consumer phone line for business, you’re denying them the opportunity to charge business rates. You’re in breach of contract and possibly committing fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/86 "2009-02-17T04:41:31Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Apparently, I sound like my own answering machine. When I answer the phone, people often start to leave a message, not realizing that I am speaking to them live. You have to stop beeping. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/87 "2009-02-17T05:15:50Z")
It’s always hard for me to fight back a nerdly urge to say, “Ahoy hoy.” After recently getting a new number, I’ve learned to stay silent when I pick up the phone. Until the no-call list effect kicks in, it’s mostly telemarketer recordings. We also get tons of calls for the previous owners of the number. Wherever you are, Marco and Gloria, half of South America has been trying to reach you! My favorite encounter with a telemarketer for a long-distance company involved me pleasantly saying that I don’t have a phone, so I don’t need long-distance. The conversation got very surreal for a while, as she puzzled this out, and actually tried to argue with me. She got all Perry Mason, “So how are we talking, then???” “We’re not. I told you, I don’t have a phone.” “But you must have a phone, you’re talking to me now!!!” “Are you sure?” And so on. I used to get what I feared were phone calls from Satan. It turned out to be my mother-in-law’s new cell phone speed-dial going off in her purse. It was so distorted and scary, with faint voices and roaring sounds. She’s really very nice. ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/88 "2009-02-17T14:52:23Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Sometimes persons who get the same wrong number repeatedly make a note of the correct number. That’s a shot in the dark, but not an insane one. I do this…I get a LOT of calls on my cellphone for “Andy”. My name is _nothing_ like “Andy”. I finally found out from one of the callers that “Andy’s” phone is VERY close to mine, only a different number is doubled. Frex, his is, say, 123-1223 and mine is 123-1233. So now anyone asking for Andy gets told “Hey, I **think** his number is ‘123-1223’, you might want to try that one. I’m not ABSOLUTELY SURE, though.” So I could be just perpetuating the problem, actually. 😃 > [@Litoris](#): > > The first phone I had in my name when I lived on my own apparently belonged to some woman that owed everyone within a 20 planet radius money. I would get messages for her all the time, and I finally tried that same type message. The first day I had it, I ended up having to call the police because I got a phone call from someone (apparently fed up with trying to get this deadbeat on the phone) cussing up a storm on my answering machine – telling me that I was a g-d liar etc. The police paid her a visit – I didn’t press charges, I just wanted her to stop calling me – and explained to her just how illegal what she did was and how she did in fact have the wrong phone number and suggested she stop calling. I never heard from her again. Oh gadzooks… I share a first name & last name with a woman who apparently owes everyone as well. And who is incredibly peripatetic, since I know of _at least_ 4 different cities she’s lived in. I got phone calls for her from the local hospital, VISA, MasterCard, “Fingerhut” catalog services, and a bunch of local businesses that just looked for her name, and called me. I finally called the phone company and explained the situation and they changed the phone listing into my husband’s name ONLY. That was the ONLY way to make the calls stop! When I was in college, I shared a phone with someone who had the same first name as I did. We were the **only** two who answered that phone. Invariably, people (who DID know that we were the only two with that phone) would call us and ask, “Is [firstname] there?” Um…the phone was answered, was it not? I’d say that someone with that first name is, indeed, here. Thanks for calling, been nice talking to ya! ---
**Author:** ![EdwardMartinIII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@EdwardMartinIII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardMartinIII)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/89 "2009-02-17T17:10:35Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > Am I an evil person for wanting to hear some stories? 😃 Does this help: During a summer break from college, I was a temporary employe at an electronics manufacturer. This is okay work if you can get it. Repetitive and boring, but good pay and not a huge challenge. The trouble is, “temp” often translates in the vernacular to “slave” or “joke-butt” and in this case, the latter was the winner. I sat near one of the business phones. It was mounted to a post. About every half hour, it would ring. And it wasn’t just my phone. Phones all over the place would ring like crazy, and it was always personal calls, often arguments, and embarrassingly loud and explicit. Oh dear. All over the floor. No one would answer it, but plenty of people looked up and then looked expectantly at me. So, I would answer it, being nice and helpful, of course. Invariably, the voice would ask for someone I didn’t know (hey, I was a temp). I’d ask around “Hey, who is Joe?” and more often than not, it would be a manhunt to find whoever the hell Joe was and try to get him to the phone. Usually, the supervisor knew and could direct me. Then, “Joe” would try and tell me where to find him in case so-and-so calls again. Like it mattered to me. We were graded on the speed of work and this manhunt business was taking huge chunks out of my day. If I left the phone ring, then eventually the supervisor would answer it, fuming that no one (meaning “me”) had answered it. I told him that I didn’t know anyone and he said to find him and he’ll tell me who was who. After a few days of never being able to find the supervisor, either, I realized a solution. I looked up the phone instructions and simply forwarded this phone to his desk. He had voice-mail. Problem solved. The next day, he came over to the post phone and dialed the number to cancel call-forwarding. “I can’t be handling all these calls,” he said (assuming, perhaps, that I could?). For the rest of the summer, I put up with it. I compared notes with my friends who were also temps and this was common behavior, like it was some kind of screw-with-the-temps game. During the rest of the summer, I mapped out phones and extensions. On one of my last days, instead of eating lunch, I ran from phone to phone — every phone that had ever pestered me or mine, or any phone that I had ever been able to hear or otherwise be bugged by. Each phone number, I forwarded to the next phone, until I reached the last phone on my list. I forwarded it to the first phone. Thus I made a forwarding ring. I went to some random phone out of the ring and called the extension at my desk. Busy. Excellent. The rest of the day was blissfully silent. That next morning was silent as well, until around 10am. A confused fellow wanders over to our department and goes up to another guy: “Hey Bill, there’s a call for you, but it’s over in the printers department.” Bill leaves to get his call. Rapidly, other people start getting calls in that department. See, once someone broke the chain by UNforwarding their phone, they received all the calls that came into the ring. Every call went to some department all the way across the manufacturing floor. Away from me. By after-lunch, enough folks had figured out what the deal was and the entire phone system was rebooted to clear the forwards. There was even a meeting to explain that the phones were messed up, but that everything should be fine now. And no, they had no idea how it had gotten messed up. It was so worth the quiet day. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/90 "2009-02-18T16:33:43Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > Oy. A couple jobs ago, I had regular and prolonged arguments with some woman about whether or not my vet clinic was the Dairy Queen several blocks over. I’ve never called a fast food place, but I’m guessing that they generally do _not_ answer the phone “East Acmeville Veterinary Clinic, this is **CCL** , how may I help you?” And yet I had to assure this woman several times at least once a week that yes, I was quite certain she had not reached the Dairy Queen. > > Oh, how I loathed her. I worked at a vet clinic where our second line was the same as a local hotel, however their’s was an 800 number. I had numerous calls for them and I’d explain that it was an 800 number and they had to dial the 800. Then people would argue that since they were in the same city as the hotel they did not have to dial the prefix.:smack: NO, it’s still an 800 number! Our’s was the local number in the local area code, the other number was an 800 number and no matter how much they dialed it without the prefix they were still going to get us and we were not them. > [@control-z](#): > > I wish I worked for Acme. Should be a sweet job, except for the angry coyotes. We really don’t call that much since we don’t talk a lot. We usually just write scathing letters of complaint. When I was younger we lived in a small beach city. Our phone number was one off from the local police dept. This was before 911, many yarons ago. We’d often get frantic calls at 3 am and we’d feel bad telling them they had the wrong number but there was nothing we could do. I suppose we could have formed a vigilante justice team and gone out to check out the possible burglars but dad had to work in the morning and us kids had school, so we needed our sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/91 "2009-02-18T17:06:31Z")
When we were in college, my then-girlfriend, the future Mrs. Chef, had the misfortune of having a phone number that was one digit different from the local radio station. She and her roommate occasionally got people who, in their haste to call in for some contest, had misdialed. I have a very radio-announcer-y voice, so whenever I was over there, they used to have me answer the phone - "“KFMZ,” I’d say with my golden throat. If I got a stammering, confused friend of theirs, I’d explain the gag and hand the phone to one of them; if, however, I got an excited person saying “Am I caller ten? Am I caller ten?” I’d say, “Yes, you ARE! ConGRATulations, you’re our winner! Come on down to the station to claim your prize in person!” ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/92 "2009-02-18T17:23:45Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > I understand how frustrating it is when you answer your phone with a company name and are then questioned about it…but come on, be a bit more sympathetic! Have you never called a business and had them answer with a rapid-fire “ThankyouforcallingLocalStorewherethedealsarehotandthepriceslow” and you have no idea what they just said? Yep. And as QA at my job, it’s one thing I will count off for in a heartbeat. If you take a job as a customer service rep, by golly, the people who call in better be able to understand what you’re saying! Drives me up the flippin’ wall. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/93 "2009-02-18T18:16:48Z")
I don’t know about now, but a while back, that actual calls cost $$$, EACH. the home rate was figured with one average # of calls to/from residences that they could make money with and on average it worked out. The also worked out the average for business phones and set the rate to cover that AVERAGE… They also got it written into the fine print and therefore LAWS about fraud cover it. So, yes, there USED (do not know about now) to be a GOOD reason why they cared about the number of calls a particular phone received on AVERAGE. It does make a difference. Not the call content, but the number of calls. (Did not NYC use to have a limit on the # of calls you could make from a home phone that was really small and people would get real hot about silly or useless calls?) You need to remember that LAWS & JUSTICE have NOTHING in common. Laws are not about justice, they are about making a society more or less work without the law of the jungle taking over. Either do not answer your phone with a business type answer and be a cheat; or get a business line. Oh, and I want a discount on your product/service because you do not have the overhead of a real business place so your profit margin has to have room to cut me a deal, Why would you care if I take 50% of your profit, all I need to know is that you operate from home. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/94 "2009-02-18T19:41:46Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > My mother had a phone number for over ten years when a local restaurant got a number one off from hers. Yup, constant calls for the restaurant. She didn’t feel she should change her number so she tried the “go away, wrong number” tactic and gave the right number for a while but it just didn’t improve, so she asked the restaurant to change their number and they refused. So after that, she’d go ahead and take reservations, then go about her business. Eventually the restaurant changed their number… “By the way, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but we’re having an unadvertised 50% off special - just ask for it! And don’t forget our new ‘if you’re not seated within five minutes, it’s free’ policy! See you then!” ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/95 "2009-02-18T19:46:04Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Oh, and I want a discount on your product/service because you do not have the overhead of a real business place so your profit margin has to have room to cut me a deal, Why would you care if I take 50% of your profit, all I need to know is that you operate from home. Right? I do have a real business place with real overhead. I just work from home sometimes. It makes me happy. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/96 "2009-02-18T19:47:17Z")
I have the same thing. I’ll answer the phone and have this scenario at least once a day. “Good morning, Clothahump’s Taekwondo School, Clothahump speaking, may I help you?”. “Yes, may I speak with Clothahump, please?” “…” ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/97 "2009-02-18T20:21:07Z")
This happened to my friend: Shirley: Thank you for calling John’s Coffee at Parkdale Mall, this is Shirley speaking. How may I help you? Caller: Is this John’s Coffee? Shirley: Yes. Caller: At Parkdale Mall? Shirley: Yes. Caller: May I please speak to Shirley? The kicker is - the caller was Shirley’s _father_. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/98 "2009-02-18T20:54:27Z")
I’ve been getting this since a got a new cell phone in October (my first personal cell number, I used to just leech from my work phones). I don’t know who “Megan” is, but she apparently never bothered to tell anyone that her number changed. Including any number of businesses. At first I was polite but a lot of her “friends” got surly when I said they had a wrong number. So far, I’ve told her landlord she was dead, and after Esurance ignored my use of the “person not at this number ever” prompt (and approximately one call a week for two months., I changed her address in that system to 69 Rue De Bunghole, Havana, Cuba. Stopped the calls, at least. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/99 "2009-02-18T20:57:53Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > I’ve been getting this since a got a new cell phone in October (my first personal cell number, I used to just leech from my work phones). > > I don’t know who “Megan” is, but she apparently never bothered to tell anyone that her number changed. Including any number of businesses. > > At first I was polite but a lot of her “friends” got surly when I said they had a wrong number. > > So far, I’ve told her landlord she was dead, and after Esurance ignored my use of the “person not at this number ever” prompt (and approximately one call a week for two months., I changed her address in that system to 69 Rue De Bunghole, Havana, Cuba. Stopped the calls, at least. > > Any suggestions? Since you haven’t had the number very long, you could see if they will give you a new number. At least it’s only one person, as I posted earlier a friend of mine gets calls for multiple people. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702/100 "2009-02-18T21:02:45Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > What annoys me is at home I answer giving my name. Then I wait a second or two, and someone comes on saying, “Is Giles … there?” or the like. My response is usually, “I just told you my name.” Mine is, “I just got back from Giles funeral.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-can-just-say-anything-when-answering-the-phone/485702.md?page=6)