by Curt Kovener
Back in the previous millennium when I was in the 4th grade, Mrs. Johnson had a study unit of proper phone etiquette. We were instructed to speak clearly, enunciate our words, and always be polite.
She had a rotary dial phone (yeah, kids, ancient history. Google it to figure out what I’m talking about) and each of us were to practice dialing and answering the phone.
“Hello, Kovener residence, this is Curt speaking” is what I was instructed to practice.
The thing she emphasized is that never NEVER hang up on anyone.
Boy, has that all changed.
We not only don’t have rotary dial phones, most of us don’t have landline phones relying on cell phones for home and away communiqué.
And those necessary evil, spawn of the devil devices have helped in our decline in civility and politeness.
I figure I get as many spam, scam, and spoof bull hockey calls as I do from friends, family and business associates in my contact list. I do not under stand the technology, but one time I even got a call from me wanting to give me a loan I didn’t need or want.
It is a head scratcher to hear your phone ring…well, only a few ring as we all have our favorite ring tones…then see your phone number appear.
And the robo calls with computerized voices make it difficult to tell if you are talking to a real live person. Most recently, I’ve been getting calls that first off ask “Can you hear me OK?” I have been told to never answer “yes” lest you just agreed to buy something, have a “free” inspection of your home, retirement finances, purchase life insurance, and more recently hearing aids.
And while I still strive to be polite and business-like when I talk on the phone when I speak to real people, I do not consider it a telephonic faux pas to hang up on an artificial intelligence powered computer voice trying to fool me out of my time or my money.
Sorry Mrs. Johnson.
Then there are those sales people who start on their sales spiel as soon as you answer and keep on talking never pausing to take a breath. Mrs. Johnson taught us it was impolite to interrupt while someone else was talking. So as soon as the caller pauses to finally take a breath, I respond “ No Thank You. Goodbye” and then hang-up not giving them a chance to continue their pitch.
Sorry Mrs. Johnson.
Back in the day of rotary landline phones, about the worst you could get was the occasional wrong number call. The caller would apologize for mis-fingering and we would both get on with our lives.
But in today’s high tech, phone phingering, constant communications we have lost civility and patience from the telephonic intruders into our lives.
Again, sorry Mrs. Johnson.
And as a part of my 4th grade phone etiquette lesson those many years ago, we were taught that manners are important and it was ill mannered not to return phone calls.
Here is where some of our area officials get to say “Sorry Mrs. Johnson”