• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Phone Un-etiquette

You can always tell which people have never had kids. Sometimes even when kids are "quiet", their not, especially when under the age of 5.

I don't have kids of my own, but have dealt with many, my niece helping my mom out in her daycare. You give then a stern, strong, "knock the crap off" they'll listen. You can't be passive-aggresive and wish washy and especialy the menqatlity of "Kids will be kids."

A stern, "Be quiet someone is on the phone." should suffice, not to mention raising them from the time they can walk to behave.
It helps to backhand them after the stern,
"Be quiet". ;)
 
I teach my kids to give a stern "Take the fuckin' phone out of the room" when someone takes a call in their presence.
 
cellphone call received - speaking not in private

A person receives an important phone call and proceeds with the said call in the middle of the room.

So why does the person stay in that room and insist everyone to "keep it down" so they can hear? <br />

I mean, beyond this being rude,

sojourner yes I totally agree. The whole reason for those old public wooden phone booths were for privacy while in a public place.
I will address this as a general topic and not specifically involving children or teenagers since now cellphones are so universal.

Most people's idea of privacy goes right out the window starting with Facebook and Twitter in the past few years.
People are not only rude by using cellphones in the presence of others they give up any right to privacy of the one-sided content of their phone call.
Any phone call that is not requiring more than two people to plan something (personal) over speakerphone or a meeting call (business) should always be in a private place for the security of the sensitive business content.
Stepping away from a table at a restaurant or out of earshot of anyone is the best course of action for all parties involved.

If you are in a location with thin doors it may be advisable to play brown noise on a computer's speakers loudly to mask the voice from carrying through the door. We actually discussed this noise on TrekBBS talking about the interior of Trek ships and that low rumble.

The only alternatives I've come up with is play a AM radio between stations so there is noise static.
Alternatively you can prepare something to use again and again with audio to overlap 3 conversations (from DVD commentaries) for 5 minutes and mix the audio together and save that audio file to playback at a loud enough volume to mask the sound of your own voice from being understood through a thin door.
 
I teach my kids to give a stern "Take the fuckin' phone out of the room" when someone takes a call in their presence.

yeah but that only works when your kids are old enough that adult supervision doesn't become such as major issues plus if I had kids and one them made a comment like that to adult there'd be a clip under the ear.
 
Another thing that annoys me is when someone calls you and asks YOU who YOU are. I'm like: excuse me, but YOU called ME first..WHO are YOU?!
I had a weird cellphone call earlier this afternoon..one of my friends called me and it sounded like a damn whirlwind on the other line. Then I kept saying: "hello, hello...hello???" and no answer. :wtf: Then I hear the guy's voice talking(my friend) to someone else either at work or home! I text him and tell him that he did call me and he said he never even picked up his phone to call me at all. :wtf: He did too cause it was HIS voice I heard! He claimed he never even picked up the phone to dial my cellphone number. Guess it goes to show yall how important I am in his life! :mad: Oh well..just water underneath the bridge...but it was weird and odd.
 
Another thing that annoys me is when someone calls you and asks YOU who YOU are. I'm like: excuse me, but YOU called ME first..WHO are YOU?!

That one pisses me, too! I've also had people get shitty because they dialed the wrong number. "Is Jason there?"

"No, there's no Jason here."

"Who the hell is this?"

"You have the wrong number."

"I do not, asshole! This is Jason's number! What the fuck are you doing on his phone?"

"This isn't his number. Don't call me again." *click*

The cell phone number I have apparently belonged to quite a popular fellow, because I got a lot of calls for him, and people were adamant that I'd stolen his phone or something.
 
Another thing that annoys me is when someone calls you and asks YOU who YOU are. I'm like: excuse me, but YOU called ME first..WHO are YOU?!
I had a weird cellphone call earlier this afternoon..one of my friends called me and it sounded like a damn whirlwind on the other line. Then I kept saying: "hello, hello...hello???" and no answer. :wtf: Then I hear the guy's voice talking(my friend) to someone else either at work or home! I text him and tell him that he did call me and he said he never even picked up his phone to call me at all. :wtf: He did too cause it was HIS voice I heard! He claimed he never even picked up the phone to dial my cellphone number. Guess it goes to show yall how important I am in his life! :mad: Oh well..just water underneath the bridge...but it was weird and odd.

My mother's father used to do that and it irked her to no end. He would call and always demand, "Who's this" to whomever answered. She got fed up once and put it back on him. They went back and forth, which him demanding who it was, and her responding that she didn't need to identify herself if he didn't know who he was calling. She instilled in me from a young age to never give in to callers who don't identify themselves from the start. I've pissed off some people doing that in the past and it hasn't bothered me one bit.
 
previous phone# holder

I've also had people get shitty because they dialed the wrong number. "Is Jason there?"
You may choose to mention in your outgoing voicemail message that 'this is Roberts phone and you have had the number for "over 1 year" ' or something like that and not answer so often if you don't recognize the CallerID number.
 
Re: previous phone# holder

I've also had people get shitty because they dialed the wrong number. "Is Jason there?"
You may choose to mention in your outgoing voicemail message that 'this is Roberts phone and you have had the number for "over 1 year" ' or something like that and not answer so often if you don't recognize the CallerID number.

Yeah, I never answer if I don't recognize the number anymore. After getting enough assholes calling me for someone who isn't there, I just started hitting "Ignore" if the number is not already in my contact list.
 
I actualy had a phonecall about a week ago, I answer and they say "Yeah, can I speak to Jason?"

"Sorry, you have the wrong number."

"Oh, ok. Sorry." *click*

A minute later the phone rings again.

"Yeah is Jason there?"
"Sorry, man, you still have the wrong number."
"Who is this?"
"This is [Trekker]."
"Are you fucking with me man? Where's Jason at?"
"Seriously man, there's no Jason here. I've had this number for three years now."
"What? Naw, I just talked to guy last week!"
"What number did you dial?"
"[he says my phone number]
"You must've talked to him on another phone number, then. This one is mine."
"Stop playin' with me man."
"Look, I don't know what else to tell you. I've told you all I know, I've had this phone for a few years now, same number, so can't tell you what is going on." *click*
 
I actualy had a phonecall about a week ago, I answer and they say "Yeah, can I speak to Jason?"

"Sorry, you have the wrong number."

"Oh, ok. Sorry." *click*

A minute later the phone rings again.

"Yeah is Jason there?"
"Sorry, man, you still have the wrong number."
"Who is this?"
"This is [Trekker]."
"Are you fucking with me man? Where's Jason at?"
"Seriously man, there's no Jason here. I've had this number for three years now."
"What? Naw, I just talked to guy last week!"
"What number did you dial?"
"[he says my phone number]
"You must've talked to him on another phone number, then. This one is mine."
"Stop playin' with me man."
"Look, I don't know what else to tell you. I've told you all I know, I've had this phone for a few years now, same number, so can't tell you what is going on." *click*

I had one like that a few months ago at 1:30am Friday night. Fortunately (or not) I was already awake due to a callback and had to log into the office mainframe. The woman called twice, and on the second call she insisted she was calling the correct number. I informed her I've had that cell number since 1996 and in no way could her friend have ever had that number.

I also had a spate of voice mail messages left for people I don't know, which is interesting as my OGM clearly states my name.
 
We have 10-Digit dialing in my area (where you dial the area code before dialing the number, there's at-least three area codes for numbers in the area that need to be used) I suspect my caller wasn't dialing the area code (which you don't have to do if you're dialing within your area-code) or dialing the wrong area code.
 
I get people ring and ask if I'm wife. Hello people, Australian male doesn't sounds like Canadian female.

Most people who know my wife know I'm here now they shouldn't be suprised when I answer the phone.
 
I teach my kids to give a stern "Take the fuckin' phone out of the room" when someone takes a call in their presence.

yeah but that only works when your kids are old enough that adult supervision doesn't become such as major issues plus if I had kids and one them made a comment like that to adult there'd be a clip under the ear.
If someone gave my kids a clip under the ear I'd shove their arm up their ass.

Sorry, but I'm reacting here to a series of comments from various posters about treating children like garbage. I've raised my daughter and son from day 1 with respect, I've spoken to them like adults, explained thingss like adults, and I don't bark at them, order them around arbitrarily or expect them to defer their rights to some jerk who happens to be a few years older.

As a result my 12 year old has grown to be gifted, rational, respectable, well behaved, but she doesn't take crap and I can already tell she won't end up with an abusive spouse or exploited some creep. My 5 year old is well on the way to the same developement. Kids learn by example, and if you treat them with respect, they learn to treat others with respect. Order them around and yell at them and "discipline" them and they either get broken spirits or they end up treating others the same way.

I'm not advocating letting children run loose while mum yaps on the phone and dad drinks beer in front of the tube. Those are the parents that have to resort to yelling, until their children get deaf, and then slapping. It's all abusive and it doesn't create decent kids or adults.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top