Phone Manners

I'm always amazed at the poor manners some people have on the phone. I used to telemarket in college and I was startled on more than one occasion by the nasty tone of voice people would assume when they picked up the phone and shouted "HELLO!?" Since I was telemarketing though, I will assume that their caller ID tipped them off, which really doesn't excuse that level of rudeness. I still don't quite get why, if they were really that annoyed, they bothered picking up the phone in the first place. I know for a fact that not everyone who answers the phone rudely thinks that they have a telemarketer on the other end. For instance, when I called wal-mart the other day to see if they had an item in stock that I was looking for, I'm pretty sure the customer service person knew darn well I wasn't calling to try and sell her something.

Even worse than that are the people who place phone calls while using the restroom. I had a boss who would leave me voicemails where part way through the message she would pause and there would be a big flush in the background, and then she would proceed with the rest of the message as though nothing weird had just happened. I've been in the restroom and heard people chatting on the phone, and I must say that I've never yet overheard a conversation in there that sounded so urgent that it couldn't have just waited a few minutes.

I've also noticed that some people just freeze up on the phone. Now when I was little, my mom occasionally had me call and talk to my grandma about something at work. All I had to say to the switchboard operator was "Betty in payroll please," but the mere idea of speaking to a strange adult over the phone terrified me. I got over it. I gather that some people never get over telephone paralysis. These are probably the same people who have those 100 minute cellphone plans. They only make phone calls when there's absolutely no other alternative. I've dated two guys I can think of who would only call if I responded to their text messages, to please just call me. Although these men were all pretty normal in face-to-face conversations, they were weirdly uptight over the phone, and they were so awkward that I started to feel awkward. A few conversations like that and I was willing to roll with the text message conversations, just so that I didn't have to endure their phone calls anymore.

Today I had to call one of the schools that I attend to discuss something with the admissions and records department. The first records person I talked to asked me what I was calling about, and then stated: "I only caught about half of what you just said, but you're really calling about a financial aid question?" "Ummm...no, I am NOT calling about a financial aid question, and I have no idea what words I just spoke that led you to believe that I am. Perhaps you could try listening to what I was saying, in it's entirety. That might clear up some of your confusion." I didn't actually say that of course, instead I just restated the issue I was calling about. Then this records person became very agitated and sort of half-shouted at me "I'm just trying to figure out here why we're getting your call. Did you mean to say..." and repeated back to me almost verbatim what I had just said. Of course, that's what I meant to say, that's why I said it. (I didn't actually say that to the lady either.) So weird. Then she put me on hold, without asking first, and the next thing I knew I'd been transferred to someone else in records. I only had to explain to her ONE time what I needed. It turns out that I will have to go down to the records office to fill out a paper in person. I'm wondering when I get there if I will be able to identify the rude telephone lady in person. Probably not, because like most rude telephone people, they're generally a lot more normal in person.