Hold please!

So, I’m on the phone talking with a friend and engaged in a good conversation, when someone walked up to him and without regard for the fact that he was on the phone, immediately started a conversation. To add insult to injury, my friend partook in the conversation without saying, “hold on” or “let me call you back”. Ordinarily I don’t sit on hold for anyone unless it’s necessary for me to or it’s a business call, but I wanted to illustrate the point about extending courtesy. As I sat back and listened for a good few minutes, I became more irate, which made me even more determined to stress my point. So, my friend finally came back on the line and I promptly told him and he and especially the person who approached him, were rude. He asked why and of course I commenced to dish out the rules of phone etiquette. He apologized and I let it slide. This one time!

No, that’s not where this ends. Are you kidding me? When using the phone, there are many rules of etiquette. One of the things that irk me aside from what I just mentioned, is people with heinously loud ringers, especially in public. Do we all need to hear Usher, the Crazy Frog, or what other loud ass sound that blazes through the speaker? I understand that people like custom ringers, but do they have to be so freaking loud? No! In fact, as not to draw attention to yourself (unless that’s what you’re seeking) or have five other people reaching for their cell phones, put the phone on vibrate. At least you’re the only who’ll be alerted and you won’t get the crooked eye look when you startle people into heart failure. And stop having your phone on ring when you’re sitting in church or somewhere of similar quietness. Another thing that I find particularly annoying are voice greetings that sound like I’m prepping of a party and not prepping to leave a message. What’s up with that? A subtle instrumental in the background as you lay your vocals down is tolerable and preferred, but hearing Ice Cube screaming at me prior to me leaving my message will cause me to forget what I wanted to say, or in some cases, I’ll hang up. You’ll get a missed call alert and you can see my number on your caller ID. Oh, and why would you have some crazy greeting anyway if you use your cell for all calls? I’m sure Mr. Bill Collector doesn’t want to hear all that crap when he’s about to tell you you’re payment is late. (lol)

Moving away from cell phones, the same rules apply to work. Leave a simple outgoing message for folk and they’ll leave you a message in return. The expression, “you know you’re ghetto when”, I apply that to folk who treat their work phones like their home or cell phones. Talk about unprofessional! People, grow up, we’re not in high school anymore.

Now, this is something that both tickles me and irks me at the same time. Someone calls, but doesn’t leave a message and then calls you back later to say, “how come you didn’t call me back?” To them I say, “did you leave a message?” They say, “no”. I say, “that’s why.” Or on the flip side to that is, they say, “well, you have caller ID, you saw that I called.” I say, “and?” or “you could have called me by accident or you it couldn’t have been important or you would have left a message.” I’m many things, but a mind reader isn’t one of them, sheesh!

I hope we have all learned a valuable lesson on how to conduct ourselves on the phone and how to use the phone in the least offensive way; and that concludes Phone Etiquette 101.

Transmission over. :-)