[Phillip Beall]

All,

Here is a Wall Street Journal with a bit of humor to it. LOL  As a courtesy Kathy and I generally text someone before we call the Not always, but generally.  As texting has become more ubiquitous it has just kind of evolved into “We prefer it, so maybe a call recipient would prefer it too.”  It is not an uncommon event for someone to text back “Give me 5.” or “I am right in the middle of dinner prep, can I call you in an hour?”, something like that.  In those cases we think the person appreciated the heads up instead of getting the call.  As the article points out in one place you can just send the call to voice mail, but we both hate doing that to family and friends.  If we don’t have the number in our contacts it is going to voice mail.  We hate spam and we hate telemarketers so we don’t even answer from an unfamiliar number…unless expecting a call from the vet, a doctor’s office. etc.  Anyway, the WSJ article Don’t You Dare Call Me Without Texting First is funny and it dissects the trend of the topic discussed above.

Enjoy,

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

[Danial Beard]

Dang!   Kinda sorry I can’t read this one.

Ah, well.

That said, It’s pretty much the same here.   Although I will voice call more often than I will text some folks during business hours.   When it comes to my cellphone, I just don’t answer any voice calls at all unless it’s from someone in my caller list.    If someone persists in attempting to call that line and will not text to give me caller data, on the third try they get blocked.

Regarding the house line, we use an answering machine to screen calls.   Same deal there.   If someone refuses to leave a message / identify themselves, they get auto-added to the block list.   I try to make the OGM entertaining because the message is upwards of 30 seconds long (this discourages most automated demon dialers).

In the last few years I’ve also gotten cranky enough that if I’m in the middle of something important, or even in the middle of a meal, I won’t pick up.   I will return the call soon afterwards, but not mid-meal.   I know that wrinkles some noses, but the bottom line is, that phone line is there for *our* purposes and convenience.   Although often mistaken for one, it is *not* a goose-stepping mandatory electronic social leash.

That’s likely a knee-jerk reaction to too many years of mandatory on-call / on-pager / on-radio connectivity I suppose.   But perhaps that’s just a handy excuse.   At heart I’m basically a taciturn, crotchety, cantankerous, peevish old buzzard who scowls at children at Christmas, and randomly snorts at unsuspecting pedestrians.

 

 

[Phillip Beall]

Dan,

I know you have had trouble loading some of these “gifted” articles before. Here is what I think is the same link:

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/phone-etiquette-text-before-calling-6015145b?st=fe2uwfuhduhltei&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

I tested it in Firefox, Chrome and Edge.  For some reason Chrome doesn’t like it…  Is anyone else having a problem loading it?

Thanks,

Phillip

• This reply was modified 4 months, 4 weeks ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Added browser testing comment

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