This week’s Truthful Tuesday multiple part question couldn’t have come at a better time…
How polite do you find it to ignore the doorbell and/or the phone? Especially if you’ve just begun to eat dinner or want to just veg out all by your lonesome? Why do we feel obligated to do either thing in the first place? One of my greatest peeves is the idea that I ought to be tied to the %$#& phone 24/7. Your honest thoughts?
Thanks, Melanie! You’ve given me a chance to vent a little…
About two hours ago, I started getting nonstop phone calls and text messages from companies providing quotes to drive my 2018 Chevy Trax from Canton, Georgia to Alexandria, Virginia. There are three problems with that:
- I never requested a quote from anyone about moving my car;
- I don’t own a 2018 Chevy Trax; and
- I don’t live in Canton, Georgia.
Looking at the messages, the request apparently came from a Mellie Thompson, who evidently lives in Canton, Georgia, owns a 2018 Chevy Trax, and requested a quote from some web-based company that farms out the requests to various companies who provide vehicle moving services. Obviously, Mellie fat-fingered his or her (it’s the South, “Mellie” could be either) phone number when making the request, and I’m the lucky recipient of such largesse. Suffice it to say, if I ever run into Mellie Thompson of Canton, Georgia, I will wring his or her neck.
Mary, who had to listen to the ringer on my phone and the text message signal, finally requested that I turn off the ringer and text message tone, which I was able to accomplish by putting it in silent mode, which suits me just fine.
I have a rule: If a call comes to my phone, and the caller is neither in my Contacts list nor someone that I called first, I don’t answer. If it’s that important, they’ll leave a message, after which I’ll call them back if I think it’s important. Likewise, if someone texts me from a number I don’t recognize, I ignore it.
The same is true of the door. Mary answers the door in this house, and won’t open it unless she’s expecting someone, such as UPS, USPS, or Amazon. She will ask who it is, and if it’s a neighbor, will answer it. Since that rarely, if ever, is the case, she tells them “no thank you” and walks away from the door.
Do I consider any of that impolite? Not at all.
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
How can anyone think it’s rude to refuse to answer nuisance calls? What’s rude is making nuisance calls in the first place.
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Exactly!
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Calling so persistently makes me think they are scampering. Can they not tell from your voicemail that you are not Mellie? I don’t answer the phone if I am watching a good movie! I will call later especially when I know I will be on the phone for am hour. I don’t ever answer the door of I don’t know the person. To me, it’s not rude at all.
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They leave a message, anyway. They figure that’s the number she gave, that’s where they need to leave the message.
Not answering the door until you know it’s someone you know or someone you were expecting is a good safety measure.
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I don’t answer my phone unless I know who it is. My phone automatically moves many calls into “potential spam”. I look up those calls to see who they are and block them.
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Ditto.
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I share your philosophy about answering the phone. If I don’t know who the caller is, let them leave a voicemail message and let me decide if I want to talk with them.
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Right: they’re calling me and asking me to drop what I’m doing and listen to them. They can wait.
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If I answer and there’s a lag I hang up before they can say a thing.
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I’ve heard that it screws up the synchronization of the autodial machines, and I’m all for that.
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