Monday, January 2, 2012

Telephone Etiquette

Is it rude not to listen to the messages in your voicemail or on your answering machine, but return the calls and ask, "Why did you call?"

I have a friend who did that for years. He got a lot of complaints, so he just disabled his voicemail Now, you can call him, but you can't leave a message. Often, his ringer is off. When, or if, he answers or calls you back is up to him.

So, back to the original question: is it rude to take messages, but not listen to them before returning calls?

I don't mean to make a point here. I don't know if there even is etiquette anymore. I just want to know what Irregular minds think.

18 comments:

Tender Heart Bear said...

I am so use to that because my mom does the same thing. She doesn't listen to the message until after she calls me to find out what I called about. I don't see anything wrong with that.

SER said...

I have two phones, home phone and a cell phone. My home phone has an answering machine on it. I never answer it unless I know who it is, I have caller id.

The way I figure if you call and don’t leave a message no biggie, if you call and leave a message I will return your call. The only thing is I only check my home phone once a day when I go to bed because it’s in my bedroom, so I may not get back to them the same day.

If you know me you never call my home phone, only my cell phone. The cell phone does have an answering thingie on it but it is extremely rare not to answer it, only if I am napping or something like that.

So, back to the original question: is it rude to take messages, but not listen to them before returning calls?

I guess if you don’t listen to the message first, I think you can make yourself look pretty stupid if you return the call first. You may be thinking of one thing and the call was for something completely different. So yes, it is rude and stupid!

Toad said...

Orb's, Your correct In both cases. It's wrong to not listen, and Etiquette no longer exists.

kkdither said...

My response before reading the other answers: all etiquette is out the window.

My kids don't listen to the message, just call me back, so all I say is, it is mom, call me back. I guess that doesn't bother me so much... as long as I get a call back. Some people pay air-time to listen to messages, so they just figure they'll cut out the middle step.

I have a home answering machine. I hate when people call, listen to my dopey message, then hang up. I don't have caller id, so they won't get a response if they do that.

As for cell phones, I have one, but I never give out the number. In fact, I hardly ever have it turned on. Hate the things. I only use it in a pinch.

OrbsCorbs said...

Actually, I consider the telephone a device of torture and would do away with it completely if I could.

drewzepmeister said...

My policy is if I don't know who is calling me it will to my answering machine or voice mail. (I'm still getting debt collectors looking for my ex-wife and I've been divorced for like 7/8 years now and I really hate talking these guys! The knuckleheads can't seem the comprehend that's she's not problem...) Anyways, I general call back later after fielding my phone calls.

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