Why can't you just SAY who you ARE on the phone?

The BBQ Pit
1

Why the hell can’t people just SAY who they ARE when they call me? I don’t know how many times I’ve had this sort of mysterious phone conversation (names changed to protect the guilty):

ME: Hello?
VOICE: Hello!

(A pause. The voice apparently thinks that I should recognize her voice, but I haven’t got a clue who she is.)

ME: Yes?
VOICE: Hmmm?
ME: Yes, hello?

(Another pause. The voice finally decides to throw me a bone.)

VOICE: It’s Betty.

(I don’t know anyone named Betty.)

ME: Yes?

(The voice finally realizes that I am not who she thought I was when I said “Hello”, and that in fact we have never met or spoken before.)

VOICE: Mary’s sister.

(Mary is my roomate.)

ME: Oh! She’s not here.

Think how much time could have been saved if she’d just responded to my “Hello?” with “This is Betty, is Mary there?” That’s the sort of thing I say when I call people. Even if I’m sure that the person who picks up is the one I’m calling for I identify myself so they don’t have to guess. Would it be so hard for everyone to do this?

2

I HATE people who expect you to recognise their voice! Yeah, with the TV, the kid, the dog, and the phone lines I’m really gonna identify you from the one syllable (“hi”) that I hear. Oh, and if I ask “who is this?” Don’t say “it’s me!!” unless you want a broken nose.

3

:mad:

4

I hate when people expect you do recognize their voices from “It’s me”! Caller ID helps this out a lot, but I don’t have it on every phone in the house.

5

The worst is when you think you recognize the voice on the other end, but you’re just waaaaaaay off.

Take this tale for instance:

My girlfriend knows the name of my ex-girlfriend, who still lives in our town. I also have a friend (no romantic interest, never was, never will be) who happens to have the same name as my ex. One time, my girlfriend called. Her voice sounds a lot like my friend’s voice, so I thought it was her. My GF, forgetting about my friend, assumed that I had mistaken her for my ex. Double penalty: 1 count for mistaking the voice, 1 count for (supposedly) sounding so happy to talk to the ex.

I can’t win, I tell ya…

6

I used to get that with my sister-in-law.
She only called every 2-3 months, and would just say “Hi”.
Her voice is not distinctive at all.
I would say “Hi” and wait. She would wait.
Then I would say “May I help you?”
And she would say “It’s me!”
I still wouldn’t know who it was.
Then she would say “Is Karol there?”
So I would hand the phone to Karol, who would report later that Sis was amazed I didn’t recognize her from three short common words.

7

Worse: when people constantly assume you are someone else. Absolutely every single friend of a former roommate assumed that I was she when I answered the phone. I don’t necessarily expect everyone to tell if it was me or her from “Hello?” but I found it bizarre and incredibly irritating that every single person would then burble “Hey, Sheara!” If this had happened once or twice, I probably wouldn’t even remember, but this happened a couple times a week for an entire year. You’d think that they didn’t know she even had a roommate, they were so certain that I was she. Maybe this is an east coast thing? On my planet, it is proper to say, “Hi, is Sheara there?” even if you are 99% positive that you are speaking to Sheara because of the 50/50 chance that it might be her roommate!

Oh, another pet phone peeve. I just got a new phone line, and the number must have been owned by quite a few people in the past, because I get insane amounts of wrong number calls. For this specific reason, my answering machine now says “Hi, you’ve reached Kyla. If you’re looking for someone other than Kyla, you have reached the wrong number.” And yet I still get people leaving messages for others! Damn you, people who can’t even pay attention to the answering machine message that was placed there for your benefit, you moron!

8

Solving the problem by the root.

Why oh why is it uncommon in some countries to answer the phone by saying your damn name when you pick up the receiver? And company name, while we’re at it, whilst at work?

A lot of confusion can be avoided this way. Plus, I consider it very rude when someone answers the phone by saying “Hello??”. I’m sure that’s mostly cultural, but come on, if the solution is so obvious, why are some people sticking to these bound-to-fail methods of answering a phone?

9

I normally pick up the phone in the house, and take messages or divert calls for my parents. I hate calls that go like this:

Me: Hello?
Guy: Yeah, is Ed (Dad) there?
Me: May I ask who’s calling?
Guy: Yeah, Jim.
Me: One moment, please.

(Go off in search of Dad to tell him that someone named Jim whose voice I do not recognize and who doesn’t recognize me is on the phone)

Then in about 5 minutes I go back downstairs to ask who it was and Dad tells me it was someone selling siding or something. Now c’mon, people, don’t try to mislead me into thinking you’re someone you’re not! Dad doesn’t know any Jim at the siding company, and if you’d told me you were from the siding company, I could have told you we had no interest in siding, same as he did. But then I wouldn’t be pissed at you for having to go find him, and he wouldn’t be pissed at you for interrupting him in whatever he was doing, see!?

10

It is cultural; I don’t think I’ve ever heard an American say his or her name when answering the phone. The only exception I know of is that sometimes houseguests might say “Hello, Smith residence, Margie speaking” if they answer the phone, so the person on the other end doesn’t get confused when they hear the voice of someone who they know doesn’t live at the house they are calling.

I am not sure why Americans do not identify themselves when picking up the phone, but we don’t, and I’d be hesitant to do it because it would seem odd. I also would not like to give someone who may be a total stranger my name.

It is, however, customary in the US for people to identify their company when answering phones at work; anyone who doesn’t is a twit.

11

Quin City–love the sig. But it’s “O’Brien” with an E.

12

You know who pulls this shit when they call my house? Scumbag tele-marketers or asshole sales people. Yeah, yeah, sorry if anyone reading this is a phone sales rep, yadda yadda, I’ve heard the rap. “We have to make a living too, you know!” Fine. Just don’t call me. If you must call, call me during regular M-F working hours, because for one thing, I won’t be home. How dare you call me at 9:00 on a Sunday night you ignorant prick.

I just love :rolleyes: getting these calls:
Me: “Hello?”
SP (sales prick): “Hi! Can I speak to Chris?”
Me: (big sigh) “This is Chris”
SP: “Hey, Chris, how’s it going?”
Me: (bigger sigh) “What are you selling?”
SP: “You know, Chris, many people don’t think about securing a burial plot until it’s too late, then their loved ones…”
Me: CLICK!

Or, they call for Mrs Wolf:
Me: “Hello?”
SP: “Hi, is Kerry there?” (note the lack of identification on the caller’s part, and the inferred friendliness…of course)
Me: “No she’s not, can I take a message?”
SP: “When will she be home?” (listen, little pee-boy, I already said she wasn’t home and asked to take a message…)
Me: "I don’t know, who are you and what do you want?
SP: “Well, when would be a good time to call back?”
Me: “How about you put your supervisor on the…”
SP: CLICK.

I can’t even go by the caller ID anymore, because “unknown” could be a friend on a cell phone or my mother from out-of-state who uses one of those 10-10 numbers.

If you’re selling something, don’t call me. Don’t worry, if I’m interested in buying I’ll call you. If you are someone I know, please don’t assume that I can identify your voice on the basis of one word. I’m not freakin’ Kreskin.

And worst of all is that cock-sucker who calls my house and doesn’t say anything, like some creepy bastard. I hang on and listen during 30 seconds of silence, then…CLICK. Fuck you, whoever you are. Go take a bath while watching a TV on your lap, and then sneeze.

Speaking as yet another Conan fan, all you phone freaks should exist solely “for me to poop on!!!”

::deep breathe::
Ahhhhhhhh. I feel better now, folks. Thanks for the rant.
Good topic, Lamia.

13

Even worse: my father, brother, and I all sound almost identical on the phone. If we’re all in the same house for the holidays it can get a bit confusing. Like the time my sister-in-law called from shopping, my dad answered, and, well, let’s just say she made a turkey stuffing comment that he shouldn’t have heard.

14

And those goddamn bastards have a new tactic!! I’ve just started getting calls that start like this:

Me: “Hello?”
Them: [recorded voice]“Please hold for an important business message.” [cue Muzak]
Me: [Click]

What the fuck is that? You actually expect me to hold? What, like if it was Ed McMahon callim to make me a millionaire, he’d want to me to hold a bit first? And if it’s not Ed, why the hell would I want to talk to you?

Some folks I know appreciate it, as it lets them hang up before even talking to someone. But, dammit, it calls back! That’s right, if you don’t talk to a human being, it calls you back! Floss me, you plaque-bastards!

So, I tried to go the legal route. I asked for their company name and requested that they not call me again. These paramecium-brained rodents actually refused to tell me who they were.

Fuckheads.

15

My peeve is when people disregard the “Please leave your name…” message on my answering machine, and say “It’s me…” when they are leaving a message for one of my roomies. As the main message taker in my house, it’s frustrating to try and guess who they are.

You’d figure that “Please leave your name, a brief message, and your phone number,” would work, but it sometimes doesn’t. :frowning:

16

There are days I dread answering the phone at work (and that’s most of my job). I am required to get their name, company and phone number if I do not recognize the name. Typical conversation, shortened considerably for not wanting to take up the whole page.

Me: Good morning, thank you for calling <company name>.
Caller: Hi.
(Pause)
Me: Hello, this is <company name>, how can I help you?
Caller: How are you?
[Like you really frippin’ care about my well-being.]
Me (through clenched teeth): Fine, how can I help you?
Caller: Can I talk to <co-worker>?
Me: May I tell him/her whose calling?
Caller: Who’s this?
[Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr]
Me: This is <my name>. May I tell him who’s calling?
Caller: Joe.
[Now this person knows 6 Joes that work in various government and private offices, not to mention 3 personal friends (I know, I’ve taken the information before!)
Me: And your last name, as he does have several acquaintances by that name?
Caller: Oh, he won’t know me.
**********[Thank gawd I can swear mentally in 6 languages.]

This went on for 4 minutes, finding our that someone had recommended he call for a question that I could have answered. And ended up doing so.

:deep cleansing breath;

I’m just going to take the phone off the hook. The worst part is, Roommate talks like ‘Joe’ on the phone when he calls someone, and hasn’t changed yet. I pity the person on the other end.

17

And even worse than the caller who won’t reveal his/her name is the caller who is on the phone for the sole purpose of hearing themselves talk.

This person–whom I’ll call J.–is not so much a friend as an aquaintance; to rephrase that, I just know him. Well, he called this past Sunday–

J.: “Why aren’t you in church?”
Me: [silence]

So, I finally figured out who it was, but the rest of the conversation went downhill from there.

J.: “So, do you know of any hotels in your area?”
Me: “Wha…”
J.: “Because I’m thinking of coming up next weekend. We could, you know, have dinner Saturday, brunch on Sunday, visit some bookstores, go to a movie…”
Me: “Well, I’m really only going to be able to get together with you on Sunday, maybe for lunch…”
J.: “I mean, I’m really looking forward to dinner on Saturday.”
Me: “But I’m only free on Sunday for lunch…”
J.: “Do you know of any nice places to have dinner on Saturday? You could come pick me up, then Sunday we can go to a movie or something…”

And so on and so on. I finally gave up and said I would call him back later this week. I get to do that tomorrow. Yay.

18

Is this the one from the other thread (MPSIMP)? The one where I implied/flat out called you ‘gutless’ for not letting him know you already had plans?

If so, my apologies. From the tone of the conversation, I remove your ‘gutless’ moniker and now dub him ‘clueless.’

19

Hey screech-owl,

Yeah, I guess I wasn’t really clear on what the situation was. Apologies accepted. :slight_smile:

20

Somewhat related to the topic: people who think it’s adorable to allow their kids to answer the phone. It’s not. It’s aggravating.

And don’t say “Hey, Bill, it’s your sister, call me” when you’re one of THREE sisters, all sounding alike!