Do you abuse caller ID?

[BurtWorm]

I do. I have a person who has been calling me and calling me and calling me day after day, week after week, and since I got caller ID at my office, I have stopped answering the phone whenever I see her name on the LCD. (It's not my mother. Or my wife, for that matter.) Do I feel guilty? A little. But I'm also amazed--and disgusted--that this person has not taken the hint that I do not return her calls. Wouldn't you take that hint after three weeks?

[skygazer]

1. That's not abuse

That's what caller ID was made for.

[BurtWorm]

2. Thank you!

Thank you for liberating me! :toast:

[wicket]

3. Not abuse at all

I do it too, people need to learn to take a hint!

[eleonora]

4. perfectly natural

I do this all the time. In fact I never answer numbers I dont know.

[Book Lover]

5. The abuse comes from those

who believe that you have to drop everything and run to catch the ringing phone. The phone is there for the convenience of the user, not the caller. Miss Manners even backs me up on this one.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. And on your voice mail, your outgoing message should be:

We're home, but we have caller ID...Apparently we don't like you or we'd have talked to you.
Maybe she'll get the hint. LOL God I'm a bitch. LMAO
Duckie

[BurtWorm]

7. I could do that.

"For those of you too stupid to get the hint, if I haven't returned your calls in three weeks, that means I will NEVER RETURN YOUR FUCKING CALLS!"

[sniffa]

8. i don't answer the phone ever

if it's a number i don't recognize or if it's private.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. Sniffa, you're so pretty...

:evilgrin:

[sniffa]

10. Like muhammed aLi?

thank you! :loveya:

[DelawareValleyDem]

11. I would take the hint

Unfortunately, it's taken me as long as three months to ditch some people

[Cadence]

12. Kinda. But it's not me that's initiating.

Every weekend I get a wrong number call from C. Holcomb. Every weekend it's the same routine.

I say "hello?"
he says "hello" then he sits there.

I say "hello?" he says "hello" and sits there. Then he'll break the silence with a "Hi Hon."

Then I say "who is this?" He says "Caleb, Is this Linda?" I say "no you have the wrong number." The last two digits of my number reversed are Linda's. I finally checked it out one day after like fifty of these.

Sometimes we vary the Hello's with Hi and then a pause.

So two weekends ago, phone rings, it's C. Holcomb, I pick up and this time I say "Hello?" he says "Hello" pause. I say "Hello?" he says "Hi Hon." I say..."Hi sweetie, what are you doing?" He pauses. "You called me sweetie." I go "Yeah don't I always?" He says "NO." Then he says "What are you doing?" I said "Clipping my toenails. I have the worst gas." Pause. He says "oh!.. ok." I say "what are you doing?" He says "Nothing. Is this Linda?" I say "No" He goes "oh..uh..hmmm. I have the wrong number." I say "ok dimple butt talk to ya next weekend."

Man I gotta stop drinking first thing in the morning. Think about what a bizarre experience that must have been for him. What kind of relationship is he having with this Linda that he calls her "hon" but she can't call him "sweetie".

I missed last weekends call. But I'm ready for the next one. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. And no I don't think he's a stalker he really is just and incredibly poor dialer and possibly not the sharpest tool in the shed.

[Wallflower_Liberal]

15. That is so funny!

"dimple butt"! Thanks for the chuckle.

[Bunny]

18. ****snarf******!!!!!!!

That's one of the funniest posts I've read here, especially the part about the gas!! :toast: :yourock:

Do keep us posted if you get any more calls. I can't wait to see what's in store for next time! Maybe ask him when he's going to go in for the paternity DNA bloodwork?

[Cadence]

19. Ok I will!

:)

[Mr. McD]

13. I screen all of my calls

Unknowns never get answered nor do people I don't wish to talk to.
I feel no guilt. :)

[Mallifica]

14. ditto

I hardly ever answer the phone, but I do check my voicemail pretty often, so if it's important, I'll call back. I think that it's more polite than suffering through a conversation while you're distracted and not giving the caller the attention that he/she deserves.

[Wallflower_Liberal]

16. I'm at home all day

Doing...well boring mommy stuff...I never answer the phone if it is an unknown caller or one I don't recognize. 9 out 10, they hang up when the machine answers.

edited to add: When my mom visits, she goes crazy when I don't answer the phone. She says "Aren't you going to answer that?" I say "No, it's an unknown caller." Her: "Well it could be someone important." Me: "Then they will leave a message." She stands by the phone wringing her hands until they hang up on the machine. Me: "See?" It drives her bonkers.

[Liberal Veteran]

17. The phone in your house is for YOUR convenience....

...it is not an invitation for others to call any old time they desire.

[tavalon]

20. He or she would take the hint more quickly if

you answered the phone and stated that you don't want to talk to her/him. More painful in the short term, but more direct and more emotionally healthy.