This is the first (and possibly last) edition of Totally Tactless Tuesday.
1. When you call my house at 10:52 p.m. to ask about my entertainment center that I listed in the paper, expect a moment of silence because I am in shock at your apparent disregard for phone manners. That goes the same for calling at 6 a.m. the moment the paper hits your doorstep on Friday morning. There's a good chance I won't sell it to you just out of principle.
My mom taught me to call people only between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. because it's just good manners. If you missed the memo, you can go ahead and adopt these manners at this point in life. I will forgive you this once. If you call after that, you better be dead.
2. When I call your home and you hear the phone ring and yet you don't ever hear the answering machine click on, and you wonder hours later why no one has called you all day since the mysterious call, go and find your phone. Your three your old answered it and she looked for you and then she gave up when Barney came on t.v. I sat there for 10 minutes listening to Barney and Friends sing about a rain puddle and then I gave up and hung up.
If your children are going to answer the phone, it would be a good idea to teach them some basic phone etiquette.
Chipmunk, "Hello."
Normal Person, "Hi, this is Nikki. May I please speak with Sally?"
Chipmunk thinking hard and then remembering Sally is actually Mommy, "Yes, I will get her."
And then Chipmunk promptly returns Mommy to the phone. PROMPTLY. Or...
Chipmunk, "She can't come to the phone right now. Could you call back in five minutes?"
Chipmunk is not yet trained in the taking a message skill yet. This is a satisfactory way to handle it.
Disclaimer: I am under the influence of antibiotics and migraine meds. If this post is unpleasant and I realize it later, it may be deleted.
10 comments:
So far the kids are totally banned from answering the phone or the door. I have been working with Punx on the phone etiquette but he talks to slow and quiet that until he gets he down I still won't let him.
I was raised on the 9-9 also. A few times I have called someone at 9:30 without realizing because I am me or time zone changes or something and I am all I am so sorry a million times, like I just ran over their dog. Somethings can not be untrained.
I used to get the monthly migraines it took a lot of doctor visits to find the right cocktail but now the only thing that seems to trigger them is a really hard workout, and that is easily enough avoided.
I agree with the phone call hours. That was pretty much how I grew up, too, and we stick to those hours as much as possible considering the time zone difference between us and our family. I can't believe someone would think it'd be ok to call at nearly 11!!
Did you feel you needed to write a disclosure for fear someone might attack you for complaining like what happened on my post recently? :-)
Don't delete this post. The world needs to understand the rules. I always like the 2nd and 3rd follow up calls to a wrong number as the clock ticks closer and closer to midnight.
I'm with ya' sista! We live in a farming city and I'm always shocked when the phone rings at 7:00 AM and they want to chit chat a while! unbelievable.
I think more people should blog about this. Then maybe we'd get a few converts to the known phone rules. lol
If the phone rings before or after those hours my heart races. With elderly parents and grandparents, I fear a not so good phone call. So when it's not a dire need phone call, they don't get a very chipper me.
Rock on girl!!! My mother taught me the same phone etiquette. She called it 9 to 9, and I still respect it to this day, unless there is an emergency. That's why last week when the phone rang at 11pm, I knew it wasn't good. My g'ma fell down the stairs and needed to go to the ER. Keep up the great work.
Reminds me of the time when my second daughter was about three years old...we had recently moved to a new community. One morning my toddler found me at work in a back bedroom and asked if she could have some birthday cake. I found this amusing because the day was no where near anyone's birthday. I said "no - we don't have any." She insisted, but I sent her off to play. Hours later I discovered a lovely cake sitting on the piano bench in our living room! Turns out that the Relief Society presidency had come to welcome us to the neighborhood, bringing a beautiful mandarin orange cake with them. My little one had answered the door, invited them in and then and then went in search of Mommy. But her thoughts were all about the cake and she never told me we had company. The dear sisters waited about 30 minutes before slipping out - thinking me to be rather unhospitable I presume!
I love it and I totally agree. Although I may have hit the timeframe a litlte off when calling people. Although my chipmunk may have called you in the middle of your night....hmmm...reminder to self: teach child to speak in foreign accent when calling random speed dial numbers in the middle of the night!!
Oh, I get sooo peeved about late phone calls! My friends and family know that if you call me after 9 PM, it had better be an emergency with broken bones and lots of blood, because if it isn't I'm going to rip you a new one (the husband and I have to be up and moving by 5:00 EVERY morning people!).
Wow, sorry. I didn't mean to go off like that. Heh.
I do call after 9pm, but only my mom!! So the family you are writing about, do they read your blog?!? I know it wasn't me, we don't watch Barney. But it makes me think if my kids have ever done that... I guess it is time for phone lessons!
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