SOMEBODY GET THAT!!
Remember the
old days and telephones? Most of us had
one phone in the house. When it rang, it
would not stop ringing, especially if the caller believed you were home. There was no answering service and no caller
ID.
If you
failed to answer the phone you were almost sure to some time or other have to
answer the question, “Where were you?” from the caller and you better have a
good answer.
The phone
did not ring that often, so when it did, you answered it. It only rang when it was someone you needed
to talk to, or something important.
There was a lot
of yelling when the phone rang.
RING…RING
“Somebody get that!”
“I’ll get it.”
Slight delay
“Who is it?”
“It’s for me.”
“WHO?”
“It’s Johnny, he’s back from the
store and wants to play ball.”
“OK.”
You never
did not answer the phone.
Today we
have caller ID, voicemail, and the phone is in your pocket, not upstairs in
your parent’s bedroom. After 4 rings it
goes to voicemail.
Today we get
a zillion calls a day. Almost all are
crap calls soliciting something or other.
There is this “Do not call” thing that was supposed to stop these
calls. It does not. Have you ever read of anyone being charged
with calling someone on the “Do no call list?”
No, you have
not. That is because it is not worth
crap. It is ignored and or callers have
found ways to avoid detection.
Experts tell
us to not pick up the phone if you don’t know who is calling. If it is important, they will leave a
message. If you do answer, even if you immediately
hang up or curse the caller out, it only encourages more crap calls.
The expert
advice is good advice.
EXCEPT
Those of us
who grew up with one phone, with no caller ID or voicemail, unlimited rings and
lots of yelling, are programmed to always answer. We know better, but we just can’t help it.
I’m slowly
getting better, if I don’t know the caller by ring-tone or caller ID, and am
not expecting a call, I generally do not pick up…but it kills me to ignore it.
A voice in
my head always yells, “Somebody get
that!”
I mentioned before I have to have a landline for work (why I don't know, but I comply). I have only given the number out to my work, no one else. The phone rings several times a day. I check caller ID and then basically ignore it. Thelma and Lonnie Lang owe a lot of money to various people, we get a lot of calls for them. Heck, I don't even answer my cell phone when my family calls (family joke, if you call mom 9/10 times she's not going to answer it because she either has it muted or doesn't have it with her). I would be perfectly happy without a phone.
ReplyDeletebetty
It's a real pain, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteHome phones weren't common when I was growing up, mostly rich or well-off people had them and no one I knew ever had a private phone in their room. I didn't have a phone in my home until I was married with three children and once the neighbours found out, they all wanted to use it "just a quick call for a taxi" or something. I could see having a phone was a good thing, but I never got used to talking into it or answering it. I still don't like phones much.
ReplyDeleteGrandpa was a doctor, and we had two phone lines. One was a private number, meaning not listed in the phone book, and we answered that because it was family or friends. The other was listed and we were only to answer that one when Grandpa was "on call." If he wasn't, next to that number in the phone book was listed "If no answer, call" and the number of the doctor's exchange, where they would give you the number of the doctor who was "on call." So i was trained early to ignore certain calls.
ReplyDeleteSweetie grew up in a pastor's house. His father always told him, "Son, always, always answer the phone. Life or death may be at the other end!" It was true, he got calls when people were suddenly taken to the hospital or someone died. There was no other pastor "on call."
It took Sweetie years to realize that with Caller ID and an answering machine or voice mail, it really was okay to ignore the phone if you didn't know who was calling.
I know what you mean but I got over the not answering quite easily. I think caller ID is the greatest invention since perforated toilet paper. What I can't get used to is family and friends being so annoyed if I don't answer my cell phone. I don't have it attached to my body at all times. I often turn it off if I don't want to be disturbed. If it's something important I will get the message eventually. This needing to tell me something right now is most trying.
ReplyDeleteIt is a hard habit to break isn't it? The 'do not call list' has worked pretty well for us....we get a couple of calls but we were customers of those companies so they are not random callers even if they are annoying. We have an answering machine attached to our cordless so we don't have to answer the phone if we don't want to...but....
ReplyDeleteI don't have a landline, but my parents do. They also have this contraption that announces OUT LOUD who it is calling when it rings.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, the only people who call on their landline are really old members of the extnded family and clothing donation places. I don't feel as though I'm missing much by not having a landline.
We continue to have a landline so we don't have to give our cell numbers to banks, etc. I have NOMOROBO on my landline and that worked for a while. Now it's the caller ID spoofing problem. They use a new number that's in your area code and first three digits to get through. People are more apt to pick up if it's a local number. Get at least 4 of those a day.
ReplyDeleteWe turned the ringer off on our landline. Rarely do we get a call we want. The answering machine picks up and if we know who's calling we answer. We are getting less and less spam calls because we don't answer anymore.
ReplyDeleteOur cell phone get lots of spam too, but we can see the number and if we don't know who it is we let it roll over to voicemail. Works for us.
Have a fabulous day and weekend, Joe. ☺
I once had a sister in law who would lift the wall unit from the bracket and carry it outside, so she wouldn't miss a call. I miss her.
ReplyDeleteI have happily learned to ignore that voice in my head if I don't recognize the number and let it go to voice mail. It's my new normal.
ReplyDeleteI get calls from anyone I know, so seldom, that I usually don't answer the phone. I'm on the don't call list, but that's pretty useless. I can't see breaking my neck to answer the phone for some scam artist.
ReplyDeleteI confess that when solicitors call selling something I ask for them to wait while I fetch my credit card and then I take a walk. I always wonder how long they wait on the line. Mrs. C. says this is mean, but I didn't ask them to bug me on a phone I pay for.
ReplyDeleteWe are on the Do Not Call list & we still get up to 20 calls a day!!
ReplyDeleteDuring and right after my divorce, my ex-husband always called to either annoy me or check up on me (is she out having fun instead of caring for our children???) so I ended up being one of the first people I knew who had an answering machine when they first came out. Pissed him off to no end. Perfect!
ReplyDeleteI should put that as my message on my voicemail. Somebody GET that!!!!
ReplyDeleteWith two boys away at college, I usually answer. Just in case. It's never been a call about them, though. Which is a good thing!
ReplyDeleteI'm also on the no-call list, and still get 10-20 calls a day, usually from out-of-state numbers, which I don't answer. When I was a kid I remember for a while we had a party line, then our neighborhood got private lines. I thought we had arrived! And our one black, rotary-dial phone was in a small niche in the hallway. Still, we were happy as could be.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom still has a landline and it's the same phone number since I was a fetus. She doesn't have a cell phone. Here's the ironic part...she was the switchboard supervisor at a big hospital in Chicago for over 30yrs. Phones were her life. Plus my sister lives with her and has her own business from home. They install phone, security and computer systems. But Mom doesn't want a cell phone..too complicated. My son put an app on my cell phone called mrnumber.com and it will stop the spam and unknown calls from coming in. It will show up on your phone but it won't ring and bug you. Works good so far! The new thing around here is a local number will come up and you think it's from your town only to find out it's a scam call too. They steal folks numbers and use them to make their calls. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteI agree the do not call list is a joke.
ReplyDeleteI remember in addition to always answering the phone, when you made a call you let it ring 10 times before hanging up, to give the person time to get to the phone.
I'm thankful for ID and all my regular callers are listed so any I don't recognise I ignore. It never used to be like this!!
ReplyDelete