Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Phone Etiquettes: Ringing at Right Time

It is not unusual for phone to ring just at the ‘right’ time. (See the quotation mark around right). Of course it is absolutely essential to attend these calls. Let us see some of these ‘ringing at right time’ experiences:

  1. A hairdresser is diligently working on his hair. She picks up the sharp blade and starts cutting the sideburns. Ring Ring Ring. Instinctively trying to save himself from a bee bite, the dude jumps to grab the phone from his pocket. His head moves and the blade cuts the cheek instead of sideburn. Worry about the bleeding later, the dude needs to speak with his girl friend first. Guess what! It is not his girl friend; it is a telemarketer trying to sell hair products.
  2. Travelers are taking out laptop from cases, removing shoes and jacket, putting keys, coins and metallic objects in the trey for the security check. But he has to attend the ringing phone and start talking. Mr. Executive, you have an important job but we also have a plane to catch. Do we need to wait for your phone conference to finish for the security check!
  3. Bluetooth made talking on phone safe in a car and it is legal. So let us keep talking. So what if the fellow passengers cannot be part of the conversation. Courtesy, politeness and consideration towards other are not part of dictionary in this new era of technology.
  4. Dedicated employees work at odd hours. Besides odd hours, they attend to phone calls at odd places too e.g. office restrooms (bathrooms). What if it is unhygienic environment, foul smell and others are listening to conversation? Phone calls need to be answered promptly.
  5. Shower is the best part of the morning. Body and mind wake up with the water flowing from the head to the toe. Hot water, white cotton like shower gel and rhyming of an old song prepares us for the long day ahead. Suddenly the phone speaker transmits the famous song used as the ringer. Cell phone is not water proof yet it needs to be answered. Just dry one hand & one ear and talk. Phone call cannot wait for shower to complete – sometimes multi tasking is required.

Dear Readers: - I can add a couple of more ‘sensitive’ situations but let us see what readers have to say. I can almost imagine the comments of some people if they read this post.

35 comments:

Anjuli said...

Oh don't even get me started on this subject!!!! Sometimes having lunch with people- and their phone rings...and to me should not the phone be 'silenced' 'muted' or whatever PRIOR to the lunch appointment???? I mean can't you have a lunch WITHOUT answering the phone??? But no-- they have to reach for the phone and sit there in the restaurant talking LOUDLY to whoever is on the other end- while you sit across from them wanting to STRANGLE them for being soo rude :)

ಅಶ್ವಿನಿ/ Ashwini said...

Ha ha ha! Completely agree on what you've mentioned.. The craziest one I've experienced is the cell phone go ring ring when I am in an Interview which I had to attend cos it was from my boss asking me to attend a meeting which was in about 15 min:)

Tanvi said...

OMG! It is sooo true!!! Happens to the best of us ... I think I am more addicted to checking my email and chat than phone calls. I hate talking on the phone so many a times I let it go to the voice mail deliberately but I HAVE to check my mail and msgs almost immediately! :P It is an addiction and not good one. I am aware!

P.S. About the survey results. I will post them soon. It is still open for people who just visit my blog once a month or so! :P

♡ from © tanvii.com

Rachna said...

This is very true. It is annoying to hear people speak so loudly in public on their cellphones like everyone is eager to hear their conversations. I don't ever pick up my phone during driving. But, I see a lot of morons driving crazily with cellphones perched on their shoulders (not even handsfree). But, attending to a cell sitting on the loo or in the shower is downright loony. And, another one that bothers me is when during a movie, someone attends to a call and continues to speak loudly. Really, most Indians lack etiquette.

Bikram said...

Well Shud the Hair dresser Not be concentrating on the Hair cutting rather then listening to the phone ring, You can always ignore the rings .. :)

completely agree with you.. And I so much hate people talking while driving , and luckily I am in a job where I can take my revenge MUUUU HA HA HA HAAH ... its only 80 pounds and 3 points on the license and YEAH the sorry this sorry that .. bleh bleh does not MELT me and yeah even if you are trying ot show ur legs etc to me .. IT DOESNOT work on me sweetheart :)

Destination Infinity said...

I guess I am different - I not only allow a missed call in such situations, the caller gets called back after a couple of days (min) too :) Especially the callers who call at odd times.

Destination Infinity

Anonymous said...

Kavita ....
I attend most of the calls coming to me because of my profession.If the moment is not favorable i give it a miss and call back the caller as soon as i can.
The comment thing is troubling again,so commenting as Anonymous.

NRIGirl said...

Have you watched the NRI movie Favorites? The phone rings during a wedding ceremony.

Most annoying ones I have heard is during church service.

My phone is on mute most of the day but by doing that I sometime miss important calls too...

Just from my recent post "Who was calling?" one can understand which comes first in my list of priorities.... :)

Anonymous said...

The worst place the phone can ring is in the gym.When you re in between your weight training sets or running on the threadmill. True phones take away your me times and personal space at times.

Swetha

Renu said...

this is so true..I sit for pooja and my mobile rings..

I am waiting on the counter and sales person is talking nothing for what seems like hrs together to his friends..

Jyothi said...

Ha ha... Phoning woes I see. Can you believe every person I meet here has a mobile in hand. I mean "Every"!!! From household help to the people who come to assemble your newly bought furniture. They have the weirdest ringtones and caller tunes too. I get to listen to a variety of Malayalam Music from all genre everyday! And yeah, not a single call is missed. So what if I am watching them talk on the phone while they fix the wooden panel with one hand,why would they care, I paid for the damn wood right!

Harish P I said...

total agreement.

kiran sawhney said...

All I would agree on is that mobiles do ring at odd times always.
In my case, it is tested and tried that it will ring, when I am reversing my car or parking it in a tight spot. It is irritating.
But yes, I do not disturb others ever with my such phone calls.

Rachit said...

Completely agree with you, interesting :)

hamaarethoughts.com said...

interesting,But how important is that??to answer the call when at work?
I usually miss the call while driving and even to the extent tell my employees to switch off during working hours as land line is available !
my cell number is jus with three or four personal friends only ...rest its my land line ..
it sucks during odd hours!

Urmi said...

I usually attend all the calls but if I am busy with some important job then I call the person later seeing the miss call. Its really annoying when we are engaged in some urgent matter and the phone rings so that time I keep in silent mode to avoid disturbance.
Wonderful post.

Insignia said...

Cellphone is a proof that we exist, without it we are lost! Isnt it?

I have so many incidents to quote. The best one was at work. We had a meeting and the phone in the conference room rang. It was an outside call. We put the phone on speaker. It was from a consultant. She was actually trying to find a candidate to attend an interview. But the fun doesnt end there. Guess which company? Ours!! One of us politely mentioned that we were not interested and she was asking for friend's reference.

They just get hold of a company's bridge number and add random numbers to the extension to reach out to people.

AS said...

hiii!

this is a very relevant post. Excessive use of mobile phones has become a major menace.

Anonymous said...

Totally agree! There is a category that I really dislike i.e. those people who talk so loudly on their phones when in places like hospitals/doctor's clinic.

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Shilpa

Anonymous said...

What, no photo (atleast from a camera phone) to go with this blog post?
- Pravin

R. Ramesh said...

our friends here have left nothing much else to say..so here goes: gr8 post buddy

Kavita Saharia said...

The comment box is friendly today it seems.

Bhargavi said...

All i can say is that life was way more simple when the dreaded mobile phone was not around :-)

Rama Ananth said...

I hate it when people check their mails in the theater, the light flashing , what is so important that they cannot wait to check it afterwards.I also hate people attending to calls or even taking the phone with one hand and checking who the caller is while driving. Anything can happen in just a split of a second.
I also hate to see people chatting with their friends in buses and trains for hours together, sending messages and so on. I think people have become crazy, they act as if they cannot live without their cell phones, when we come from a country, where having a land line itself was a big luxury some years back.

Suruchi said...

haha...what can we say?
we live in an addicted world and some of the situations are aptly fitting on me...i have been guilty of picking up the phone in the middle of the shower when it is from a special someone;-)

now can we hear what you imagined we would say as comments, dear author?:-)

Shobha said...

Absolutely true...the phone rings at all the odd times when we are not ready to answer...
Interesting post.

Felicity Grace Terry said...

The minute we sit down to eat you can guarantee someone will ring.

The most 'interesting' call we had recently was a bogus call from a man claiming to be a solicitor. He informed us of a long-lost relative who had died leaving us a few thousand pound in their will - all we had to do was provide ALL our bank details so that he could transfer the money.

Rià said...

So true...i m sure we hav had our moments of phone ringing at the wrong time. Thankfully i have never been caught in a awkward situation.

Neeha said...

OMG!!All are so true.
Esp the fourth point,lol..
I am seeing so many dedicated people who are ready to skill the meals all the time & annoying the people around them:)
I am surely one of the people who are being pathetically annoyed:)

Mann_se said...

well :D:D...u said it!:D...I can more or less relate 2 each and evry "RIGHT" xperience u mentioned=D ....however, am kinda bindaas type ...ny1 can bug me nytime and i am sure my talk will bug dem back 4 sure..so its kinda taken care of indirectly;):P....and but what actually irks me is when my hubby dubby :D:P gets any call:O:P....which nevr ends frm whomever it is :-\..and i keep wondering y da hell he doesnt talk 2 me non-stop like dat :O:X:|...bass dats it :D..oderwise i njoy / ignore most of da phone anti etiquettes :D.... life is 2 short..u gotta sometimes break the rules and njoy it ;D:P....jeeyo,muskurao,khush raho kya pata kal ho na ho :D:D....and dil nahi thoda karthey zara zara si baath pe...ek dialogue ke saath ek gaana free :D:D:P....

Mann se..................

sm said...

lol
yes it happens.

Anonymous said...

Nicely said..

I have been trying to do this for a while, have not been successful so far..

Completely turn off TV/Cellphone/Laptops/Radio for a day on weekend at home (not in the woods)

- See what did I really miss

R. Ramesh said...

thanks boss:)

dr.antony said...

Just yesterday, I was thinking aloud on this.We were all sitting and talking at home,and then the telephone started, incessant rings one after another.The truth was that none of the calls were of any purpose.
I make it a point to switch off my mobile after I reach home.

Emily, Ruby Slipper Journeys said...

First, I don't think Bluetooth makes it safe to talk while driving...they've done studies to show that it's the distraction, more than the hands, that makes it unsafe.

My family used to routinely receive calls from "Conneticut" as 6 in the morning. Apparently our toll free number was the same as some government insurance division in Conneticut, so they'd call when it opened--at 9 Eastern time. Grrr. Also, they never accepted that we simply didn't know how to reach the right people... being in another country and all. : )