I said, "Excuse me?" (I'm not used to being barked at as a greeting on the phone).
Then, she asked, "Who is this?" (Grrrr - one of my BIG pet peeves).
ETW: "Who were you trying to reach?"
Then I hear her screeching at someone in the background, "Did you dial the wrong number??"
At this point a man gets on the phone.
Him: "Who is this?"
ETW: "Who were you trying to reach? This is the Evil Twin's residence." Which I would normally never offer up, but this seemed like a truly moronic duo. I thought I'd make it easier for them.
Him: "Oh, I think I dialed the wrong number. I'm sorry."
ETW: "That's okay." [What I want to say, "Thanks for not just hanging up on me."]
But I figured that would be a waste of my breath, since these people were clueless.
I hung up the phone and waited for a repeat mis-dialing. It never happened, so I suppose they got the right number finally!
Honestly, we had a class in 2nd grade about phone manners, but were also coached at home by our parents on how to politely answer the phone, how to take a message if someone was unavailable to get to the phone and how to politely place a phone call - as in "May I speak with so and so?"
If we dialed incorrectly, we sincerely apologized and even said, "Bye."
I expect the impolite calls from children or young adults, but from full grown adults? Not so much.
We're all going to hell in a handbasket!
yeah, we are, and quickly..
ReplyDeleteand i PREACH to my son on a regular basis about ALL manners, but especially phone manners, manners when speaking to a waiter/waitress, manners when speaking to ANY adult. fortunately, he's still a wee bit afraid of CRAZZZY mom so he obeys..
Manners, in general, have (unfortunately) gone the way of the dinosaur. I have often been called the manners maniac by my son, and I take that as a compliment. Along these lines, last year the church youth group offered a middle school weekend discussing abstinence as a viable option before marriage. This year? The same middle school weekend program will be focusing on manners and modesty - WooHoo!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I call a stranger, I am polite. But if I was calling my dad and I was pissed off, I might just yell, "Let me talk to dad!" if my sister or stepmom answered. And if it turned out to be a wrong number I'd apologize.
ReplyDeleteI am also a huge pet peever of the "Who is this?" question when they called me. I generally ask the "Well who is this?" question once before I hang up on them.
ReplyDeleteI just hate when people call you and there is all this crazy background noise and scuffling of the phones and all that stuff. Can you please find a relatively quiet place to make your phone call so I can hear?
ReplyDeleteAnd I think I need to work with Lady H on phone manners. Thanks for the reminder.
I will totally drink to that! (Its 5 o clock somewhere, right? )
ReplyDeleteYou are so right on - I HATE poor phone manners, too!
ReplyDeleteSome guy called here the other day - cold calling for investment business. When I said "No thank you" He suddenly hung up! Made me so irritated!
I was 12 years old before I could answer the phone by saying "Hello?". Before that I had to say, "Smith residence, Lisa speaking." Phone manners were a big deal in my house...acutally all manners were a big deal.
ReplyDeletePhone manners are a thing of the past for way too many people!! We were always taught to be polite, even if the person on the other end was not!
ReplyDeleteI just had this very phone converstaion with my 8yr old. He's horrible on the phone so I'm trying to teach him what to say, how to say it and when to say it...so in one word..be POLITE!
ReplyDeleteDoesn't appear these two had any clue whatsoever!
OH when people call you and ask who they're talking to...grrrrrrrrrr.
ReplyDeleterude people suck! I hate when "wrong" #'s esp. have the AUDACITY to ask "who is this?!" - um, didn't YOU call me - you should know who it is, & if you don't - then apologize & be NICE!
ReplyDeletegrrr.... I hate poor phone manners.
ReplyDeleteWe get a lot of miss dials. We are one number off from the Chamber of Commerce.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to make is seem like them dialing the wrong number was YOUR fault. *Shakes head*
ReplyDeleteI would have promptly do a reverse lookup on their phone number to see who the rude person was (assuming it wasn't a cell phone #). I'm nosy like that! ;)
We still get phone calls for whoever had our number before we got it NINE years ago. They're all bill collectors. I've lost any form of phone manners with those people. All I have to hear is the name "Tyrone" and I start going off on them. I fear I may have become a training number for bill collectors to learn how to deal with being treated like crap. :)
ReplyDeleteIts getting worse...You should hear what I get out of the business world.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole lack of phone manners came about the same time that McDonald's employees stopped greeting customers and instead stare blankly at you waiting for you to initiate the order.
ReplyDeleteEither that or it was about the time that when you politely told your waiter or waitress "Thank You", they responded with, "No problem".
My God. No phone manners, no restaurant manners; we all might as well just fart at the dinner table and sneeze on our sleeves.
I have had no less than 50 hang ups here at work in the last 2 days. Would it kill them to sat that they have the wrong number? Bastards...
ReplyDeleteWhat the HELL? Seriously, where were these people RAISED to act like this? GAH.
ReplyDeleteI hate bad manners.
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ReplyDelete