[Blessings2You]

Just a few unofficial ponderings...

Way back in the day, we were on an 8-party line. It was obviously rude to listen in, and equally rude to keep picking up and replacing the receiver noisily to show that you were waiting for the phone.

It was, however, appropriate for Mom to break in and say, "Tillie, would you mind hanging up? I need to call Bill before he leaves work" or such things.

Then along came call waiting. Back when it first existed, it was unthinkably rude to hang up on somebody because somebody else was calling...giving the impression that the waiting call was "somebody better".

Now, I think nothing of telling a friend when she calls, "I'm expecting a call soon, but I'd love to chat until the call comes". Or, "I'm sorry, I need to take this call...may I call you back after?" When I call back, I explain the siutation if appropriate. My daughter and I talk nearly every day, and we are totally FINE with "Oh, it's Lisa...call you later, Mom!".

I do have friends who are horrified that someone would interupt their marathon calls to take another, regardless of the importance of the new call. But I think it just kind of depends. What do you think?

[gonnamakeit]

I do not have call waiting because I do not like the loud beep in my ears when someone calls and I am on the other line.

Call waiting is more of a nuisance to me that I can do without.

gmi

[sabimax]

I do not have it, if I am expecting a call, I try to not use the home line... much... when talking to someone, I do feel funny when they say oh, gotta run so and so is on other line... as I take it... like well why not finish our convo.. then call that person... I understand if something important... but sometimes OUR convo to me IS important. I guess is how i have felt over the years. hugssss,sarah

[Kitty]

My best friend uses her cell phone for work and we get interrupted frequently when we're chatting during the day. I understand that she needs to take business calls. Sometimes she sees who it is and says "I can call them back later". Either way, it doesn't bother me.

I cannot imagine having a party line today. We had one when I was very young. By the time I was using the phone myself we didn't have it anymore. I can remember my Mom complaining about so-and-so who was long winded!

I have call waiting but my phone shows me who's calling and 9 times out of 10 I don't take the new incoming call. My kids know if it's an emergency they can call my cell phone and I will pickup.

One thing that really bothers me now are the cell phones that have the Internet and text messaging. Nothing is ruder than sitting at the dinner table (at home or out) and fiddling with the cell phone and ignoring the other people at the table.

[SallyC]

I don't have it either. If I'm expecting an important call and receive another call, I do 1 of 2 things....I tell them, I'm expecting an urgent call and will call them back later....or, I stay on the line and then call the urgent caller, as soon as I hang up, to be sure they didnt call while I was on the line.

[Erin524]

Unless it's really important, I dont usually answer the call waiting.

We have the call waiting caller id, (someone calls, we get the beep, and the caller id shows the name) Usually, if my sister calls and it's important, she'll call once...then call back again a couple of minutes later. If she calls a third time, it's really important and then I'll say sorry to whoever I'm talking to and I'll answer my sister's call.

My phone etiquitte (sp?) pet peeve. People who interrupt me while I'm trying to talk. (actually, that annoys the hell out of me when I'm talking to someone in person too)

I got that pet peeve when I used to work inbound telemarketing (people called me, I didnt call them) I'd get people calling for the crap that's "As Seen On TV" infomercials...all that junk, and I'd get credit card applications.

I'd be trying to answer the person's questions, but instead of letting me read the stupid script and answer their questions, they'd keep interrupting me with new questions or repeating the old question a zillion times and not letting me finish answering them. Happened more often than you'd think. Annoyed the heck out of me.

[braingonebad]

I remember the party line. UGH! That may be why till this day I do not care to gibby gab all day on the phone.

But I do have call waiting on the home line and cell. What if it's an emergency? We have a lot of those in my family. My mom is almost 80 and dh's mom has some health issues too. And what if one of the kids' cars break down? Or grandbaby gets sick?

I will say "Excuse me, let me see who this is - I'll be right back." Every time, because you never know.

Dh called today because he had to go in to work early to cover for one of the guys - somebody broke into his truck, right there at work, and tried to make off with it.



That stinks, but at least the guy is okay.

[FaithS]

We have call waiting, because DH wants it, but I don't generally interrupt one call for another, because, like Blessings said, it can give the impression to the first caller that I am choosing to talk to "someone better". I think it's rude, and am annoyed when people do it to me. It rarely happens. I generally do not have rude friends either.

The occasional exception has been when I'm talking to my DH, because I know he won't mind. And, I ask him first: "Do you mind if I take a call from _________ and call you right back?"

One thing that I especially did not like about having call waiting is that the phone would just ring and ring to the caller on the other end when I did not answer it. They would not have the option to leave a message on the answering machine.

We solved that by getting voice mail.

~ Faith

[kicker]

Remember before answering machines, if you weren't home, the phone rang all by it's lonesome. I had call waiting when kids were younger and I had friends in my old state and life "in case". You never knew. Now far away, I seldom am on phone. I've also learned, it's just a ringing phone. If my kids and DH are with me, if I'm busy or have company, I needn't answer. It's just a ringing phone. I have no problem turning TV off either. It's not real life. Sometimes I fear some have become slaves to phones, answering no matter what is going on. It's just a phone!!!!

[Kitty]

We've got caller ID.....and it sure does help sometimes.

Lately we've been getting telemarketing calls from a Los Angeles, CA phone number. They always call between 6 and 7 PM. They called last night and my DS looked at the caller ID and said "Mom, who do we know in Los Angeles?" I told him "Oh, it's just a survey call. They've called before and I told them I'm not interested".

Well, his eyes lit up and he grinned like the Grinch. That poor telemarketer was in for it....I could tell by his evil laugh.

He put on his foreign accent and answered the phone. I was laughing so hard the cats ran and hid under my bed! Finally, the poor telemarketer evidently asked if there was someone they could speak to that spoke better English. DS put "Jethro" on the phone. Jethro is from the Deep South.....so you can imagine his drawl.

Finally, the survey was over, my sides were splitting and the poor telemarketer probably needed a break.