A minor peeve but it just happened again, and I don't have anything else to gripe about:

 

Someone dials my number by mistake, and when I answer the phone, they immediately ask, "Who is this?"

 

My usual response goes something like, "You called me. If you had good manners, you'd introduce yourself first."

 

If they ask in a demanding or indignant manner, I may respond with, "Whaddayamean, whoisthis? It ain't my fault you don't know how to use a telephone!"

 

Some fools can't get it into their heads that they could be screwing up, and they'll try three or four times. That's when I blow the police whistle into the mouthpiece.

Damn Rob, I'd hate to see what you do when the telemarketers call

 

;)

But Rob, tell us how it was back in your day!  Surely people had better manners back then, right?

Yeah, tell us about the days when you had to call an operator to make a phone call.

You know; one ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingies.....  :-D

I don't even answer the damn phone anymore.

it's either telemarketers, hangups or wrong numbers.

Fortunately, Monica, or whatever her  $$#%! name was, isn't giving out my number to her teenage suitors anymore.

I've been thinking about turning my home phone off.  The only people who call are credit card people trying to get me to sign up for stuff I don't want and collection people looking for my dad because he can't pay his bills(sucks being a jr).  My bill is only $35 a month....but I don't us the phone at all.

^Yeah, having worked in the debt collection business, I would NEVER name my son after me...same name, same permanent address (at least for some period of adult life)...you're really risking trouble.

70% of my phone calls are for "Joanna," who apparently has some message at her (doubly) old phone number that this is her new phone number.  Dammit, that message really needs to be changed!  I hope by now I've at least made a dent in the list of Joanna's friends by telling callers that this is not Joanna's number.

 

I would ignore the phone, but I do get the occasional call from my parents.

But Rob, tell us how it was back in your day!  Surely people had better manners back then, right?

Yeah, tell us about the days when you had to call an operator to make a phone call.

You know; one ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingies.....  :-D

 

Dang smart-alecky youngsters thing it's funny to disrespect your elders! That's exactly what I was talking about! :-D

 

Seriously, though, we moved from Fort Wayne to a farm near Bluffton (pop. then 6,000) when I was about 8 years old. Our phone was an ordinary black desk set like most systems used in the forties and fifties, except that it didn't have a dial. All the residential phones on Bell's Bluffton exchange were five-party lines, and all the phones on a party line rang for incoming calls. To know whether the call was yours, you counted the rings; ours was 979 Ring 5, so if it rang 5 times in quick succession, we knew to pick up. Of course, all busybodies on the line knew we were getting a call, too, and there were a couple of old biddies who kept the local gossip machine fed by listening in on other people's phone calls. In addition, whenever they were on the phone gabbing  :yap:, no one else on that party line could make a call until they finished.

 

To make a call, you picked up the handset and waited a few seconds until an operator came on and asked, "Number, please?" If you wanted to call someone else on the same party line, you'd then hang up and wait for the rings. When the rings stopped, you knew they had picked up, and then you could pick up and talk with them.

 

I think that system was in use until some time around 1964, when they put in direct-dialing. It was a few more years before all the rural party lines were replaced with private lines.

 

Damn Rob, I'd hate to see what you do when the telemarketers call ;)

 

Mostly I just hang up on telemarketers. I avoid a lot of those by letting the answering machine pick up most evening calls. You should see how I deal with (increasingly rare) door-to-door salesmen, though, especially when they won't take "no" for an answer. I actually made a Comcast salesman run, and he was a big guy (I'm anything but)!

 

He was getting very pushy and I kept telling him I wasn't interested. Then, he sort of drew himself up to take advantage of his height and stepped into my space. Instead of stepping back like he probably expected, I stepped forward to meet him, with my right arm sort of drawn back like I was about to throw a punch :x. He looked a little startled and stepped back, and for every step he took back, I took a step forward. When he got to the bottom of the porch steps I sort of lunged toward him and he turned and ran. The whole thing probably took about five seconds. He didn't come back. Come to think of it, I haven't been bothered by any Comcast salesmen since. :lol: