# Take your wife off of speakerphone. Better yet, find somewhere private to fight. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387 "2005-06-22T16:49:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387/21 "2005-06-25T01:59:13Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I’ve heard radio hosts do this a lot, and once the caller responded that he was disabled and couldn’t hold the phone. The host sounded like he was dying of embarrassment. There are technical reasons radio hosts (and especially their engineers) dislike speakerphones. The sound quality is lousy and there’s a tendency for godawful feedback. There’s also background noise from the caller’s end, and that sort of thing. That said, my mother has multiple sclerosis and occasionally uses a telephone headset like operators use. Problem solved. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387/22 "2005-06-25T13:47:35Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Anyway, don’t be passive. Tell the guy’s boss, or talk to HR. I have a coworker who doesn’t talk on speakerphone, but he’s SO FUCKING LOUD on the phone (and his job entails calling people all day) that there have been a number of complaints. He used to sit on the opposite side of my cube wall and he was pretty annoying, but since he was shrieking in Spanish most of the time, I could fortunately tune him out better than if he’d been speaking English. I have a corner cubicle in the cube farm at work. The people who used to work in adjacent cubicles were all pretty quiet, but they have all left for other jobs in the last year. We have one employee who has a VERY LOUD voice that carries halfway across the building (and also spends a good deal of time on the phone), and he used to have a cubicle near the hallway but got irritated by people standing in the hall chatting outside his cubicle, making it difficult to do his work. I’ll never forget the day my boss came to me and informed me that this guy asked to be moved to one of the empty cubicles adjacent to me, because it was a “quiet corner”. The first thing that popped out of my mouth was “Not anymore!” But at least he uses a headset. We had a contractor working for us for a while and this guy took \*every freaking phone call \*on speakerphone. Most of the time it was tech support for the software he was using on his project, but even personal calls (like calling the credit card company to dispute a charge on his bill) were on speaker. And this guy had no respect for anyone else, he talked down to everyone. What an asshole. I was so glad when his contract was up. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387/23 "2005-06-25T14:41:12Z")
Anyone who puts a caller on speakerphone without first telling them that is exactly what they are doing deserves to be bitch slapped by Miss Manners. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387/24 "2005-06-26T16:19:25Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Hehe. I was sitting with a client this week, doing his application for health insurance. His wife wasn’t there, and from some of the things he said I got the idea that she wouldn’t be his wife for very much longer, but I digress. He had to call her to get the name of her doctor and the last time she had visited him. He phoned her on his Blackberry, using the speakerphone, and she answered “Fuck you! Do what you want, you fuck!” and hung up. He looked at me and chuckled, then called her back and opened the conversation telling her she was on speakerphone with the insurance man, and got the information I needed. She didn’t even seem embarrassed by the earlier call. The capper though is that after the call, he looked thoughtfully at me and then asked how much less the insurance would be for just him and the kid. I told him and he decided to not include her in the coverage. I guess sometimes being a rude bitch has unintended consequences! I can’t help but think he somehow deserved it and she’s not a rude bitch at all. 😃 My ex does this crap. He makes sure he has an audience and then while on the phone with me says things like “Why are you acting so crazy?” “You don’t have to yell about it.” And I’ll be sitting there speaking in a normal tone. He puts on a great show for whoever, and makes me look like a lunatic in the process. It’s only when people get to know him that they realize he’s the asshole. That guy is probably the same way, which is why his wife wasn’t at all embarassed by her comments. Of course, I know nothing about this couple, but when I relate it to my situation, I completely see her side. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Penchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Penchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penchan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387/25 "2005-06-26T21:40:27Z")
> [@RTA](#): > > We have someone who likes to use the speakerphone because in her tiny donut-fueled pig brain it makes her look and sound Very Important. > > Whenever I get a call from this person, I put my hand over my mouth and say something along the lines of “Mawr mawr rahr rahr argle bargle”. It forces her to pick up the receiver. I laughed SO hard when I read this. I think that it’s just silly and mean enough to get the job done. As for the others, I’m too shy to call someone up and tell them that they’re a piece of shit for being so obnoxious. But the above statement is easily done by people like me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387/26 "2005-06-27T16:25:22Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] I’ve heard radio hosts do this a lot, and once the caller responded that he was disabled and couldn’t hold the phone. The host sounded like he was dying of embarrassment. QUOTE] In this particular case, I’d tell them “ok, sorry about that.” and move on (with the call). One should never be embarrassed to ask someone to use technology in the proper manner to make that person more understandable. If a physical disability is obvious, another means should be used. If it isn’t, then the question was proper, as would the use of the speaker phone. There are a few exceptions to this rule (speaker phones in general) of course, meetings (in which you are in a room with multiple participants, sharing one phone), and perhaps a few others. For regular conversations, they should not be used, or if the non-speaker party has trouble understanding/hearing, then the person using the speakerphone should be courteous enough to pick up the dang handset. ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387/27 "2005-06-27T19:40:44Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > “Hey, cheesedick, the rest of your co-workers are trying to work, so hang up the god damn speakerphone already!” Yes. The formula is: 1) say something offensive, to make sure you have everyone in the office’s attention, 2) make it clear that he’s a jackass **because** he’s using the speakerphone. Everyone around will be delighted, and he’ll know how to avoid it in the future. I’m sure any kid hanging around outside a 7-11 would be happy to yell “Hey fuckface! Everyone in the office doesn’t want to hear your speakerphone conversation!” for $5. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wife-off-of-speakerphone-better-yet-find-somewhere-private-to-fight/309387.md?page=1)