GET SOME PHONE MANNERS …WOOF!

17 Responses to this article

1. Wendy Harmer September 20, 2012 Reply

    

    

   I have a niece, FirstDog who, when I pick up the phone, says: “Who’s this?” Drives me bonkers! I have asked her over and over again to say her name ( she sounds like every other teenager) and now I am Mad Auntie Wendy, from the phone police. I suppose there will be no facility to talk on the phone soon and tha will be the end of it… I will be looking at text that says cul8er, me and still wondering, who the bloody hell is this?

    
2. MoniqueN September 20, 2012 Reply

    

    

   For me it’s when you say – lovely talking to you, but I have to check the dinner/leave for an appointment/go and find out why the cat is on fire… and they blithely say ‘oh yes that reminds me…’ and launch into another pointless hour long anecdote… people please don’t make me just hang up on you in mid sentence…

    
3. Kylie L September 21, 2012 Reply

    

    

   People who answer their mobiles when I am talking to them…. then proceed to have a conversation while expecting me to wait. Unless you are waiting on some urgent medical results, let it go to voicemail people! I

    
   • Janelle September 21, 2012 Reply

      

      

     I’m with you Kylie L!!! I have a close family member who does this frequently or totally tunes out whilst texting someone on her mobile during a conversation. Drives me absolutely batty!!

      
4. just jay September 21, 2012 Reply

    

    

   Haha, I work for an organisation bound by the privacy act and have to call people to deal with very sensitive issues. I have to identify who it is that I’m speaking to before identifying myself. If I identify the organisation I’m calling from before doing that it can be considered a major breach of confidence. It annoys some people, but it’s important. Some people I call do the “to whom am I speaking?” before they identify themselves and I can’t answer. Always a tricky one.

    
   • Dan September 22, 2012 Reply

      

      

     Sorry Just Jay, if I get a call that starts that way, I say ‘who were you looking for?’ and if they don’t identify themselves, I hang up.

      
5. Aeron Winters September 21, 2012 Reply

    

    

   I have had this happen several times. I even had an argument with someone who was calling be because they wanted to know who I was but would not tell me who they were first. They called me, not the other way around…no way was I telling them who I was. I even had someone ask what my address was…like I was ever going to give that information to some unknown person randomly calling me on the phone. When I call someone, I always tell them who I am, then state the reason for my call whether that be to make an appointment or to speak to a particular person.

    
6. sue bell September 21, 2012 Reply

    

    

   I hate it when a call centre rings you and then asks how are you today. I now tell them in great detail of every ache and pain until they hang up.

    
7. JessB September 21, 2012 Reply

    

    

   I work at a uni, and it ALWAYS drives me mad when students call, ask me for information, and when I give it to them, say, ‘hang on, I need to get a pen’.

   Don’t make calls asking for information without being able to write down the information when it is provided!!! On occasion, I have to stop myself from asking, ‘what did you think would happen when I gave you this information? That it would magically appear on a piece of paper in front of you? That would be an email – email me!!!’

    
8. Marnie September 21, 2012 Reply

    

    

   Silly First Dog! You are talking about a telephone. A telephone is an aural/oral instrument, when a phone rings, someone….anyone…answers it. The person who calls does not know who they are speaking to unless that person introduces themselves. Similarly, the person who answers it does not know who is calling until that person introduces themselves. I now know why two dogs will stand and bark at each other…..neither will introduce himself until the other does.

    
9. Marnie September 21, 2012 Reply

    

    

   Having been trained as a telephonist/receptionist in the 1970′s, I always answer the phone politely with “Hello, Marnie speaking” . I am gradually training my grandchildren to do the same. I see no problem with them giving their name. (They know that they NEVER say they are alone).
   I find men are the worse as far as phone etiquette goes. One I know answers the phone with “City Morgue, slab Nine” another just says “Speak”.

    
10. Sara September 21, 2012 Reply

     

     

    I’m with you Marnie

     
11. Krista September 22, 2012 Reply

     

     

    I answer all my calls differently…
    At work, it is “Good Morning / Afternoon, #company name, this is Krista”
    On the home phone “Hello”
    On my mobile when I don’t recognise a number “Hello, Krista speaking”.
    When Mum rings “Hello Mother Dearest, this is your #1 daughter speaking”…

    It all depends on the situation and your surroundings, I don’t know why

     
12. Lulu September 22, 2012 Reply

     

     

    My litlle girl ALWAYS answers both home and her mobile “Hi! This is ……”. Even if it’s me or her dad calling – it’s just become a habit. I taught her that from a very young age and she gets beautiful compliments on her phone manner.

     
13. MidnightBlue September 23, 2012 Reply

     

     

    My response to this is “How petty…” If someone can truly become angry or upset simply because another person doesn’t respond in a certain way when making or receiving calls then they have real problems – and none of them are to do with phones. The analogy with knocking on a door is disingenuous; when you arrive at a door you know where you are. With a phone, you might have misdialled, the number might have been changed, the person who gave you the number might have got it wrong. There are lots of reasons why you might query the person who answers the phone as to whether they are the person you were hoping to reach.

    Good God, people, we are living in the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth.

    When I was in my teens if the phone rang EVERYONE would drop what they were doing and try to reach before my father answered it.

    If a boy asked to speak to me he would say something like “She’s changing her baby’s diaper. Are you the father?” You should see the looks that I would get at school the next day. He is also one of those men who would pick up a phone, wedge it between a shoulder and one ear then say “Speak!”. He wasn’t anywhere near Politically Correct, nor did he want to be. He would answer the door and whisper out of the side of his mouth “Did you bring the drugs?”

    After a child and teenage-hood with him (I adore him – don’t get me wrong) I really don’t care how people make calls or answer the phone. There are many far more important things to worry about.

     
14. Annie from Faulco September 25, 2012 Reply

     

     

    I agree about phone answering protocols in a work situation.

    At home, if I don’t recognise the caller ID, I say, “Hello, who’s calling, please?” It is THEIR call, after all.

    A several second delay invariably indicates a telemarketer. “Is that Mrs Mispronounced Surname?”

    To which I reply, “The bastard! He never told me he was married!” They hang up.

    Not original, I acknowledge, but many friends have enjoyed similar success in deterring unsolicited calls.

    And there’s nothing like the sheer, unadulterated joy of being a smartarse!

     
15. Rhoda September 26, 2012 Reply

     

     

    Some people seem hypnotized by their mobiles. I guess it’s an addiction. I imagine there are people who need to be on 24 hour call like the PM or an expectant father.. Most people I see having loud conversations as they walk down the street are completely switched off to their surroundings. A very odd phenomena.