"Hi Mom, it's Erin."
Okay, maybe not with your mom, but with pretty much everyone else?
Three times this week I have had people call me, and this is how the conversation has gone:
"Hi!"
me: "Uh, hi!"
"How are you?"
me: "....Fine?"
"I just wanted to let you know that the girl we visit teach just had surgery." OR, "I'm just calling to tell you my daughter won't be coming to piano lessons tomorrow." OR, "Did you get your visiting teaching done last month?"
OH! NOW I know who you are.
Maybe they assume I have caller ID. I don't have a home phone; I only have a cell phone. It doesn't tell me who is calling unless I have entered their info into my phone.
I think the root of this is that I feel stupid, like I "should" know who is calling and I certainly don't want to admit that I have no idea who is on the other line.
...Then again, I noticed that I did this to my friend last week who, the day before, had told me that she doesn't have caller ID on her home phone. *Note to self: when I call someone on the phone, tell them it's Erin!
P.S. Yesterday I showed my stupidity with technological things to all of you. I wasn't phished - that's when someone sends you an e-mail that looks all official and you click on it but it takes you somewhere else. I was hacked or scammed. Oh phooey. I pheel phoolish.
47 people wanted to leave a comment:
I get that at work all the time. I work in a counseling center with 50 clients, and they will call and act like I know who I'm talking to!
So annoying.
Hey it's me! Keyona! Too funny. I have friends who do that and I'm all like "...and this is...." LOL!
I know, and you feel RUDE having to ask who's calling, or at least uncomfortable trying to drag things out until you can figure out who it is.
My mom taught us to address the person by name if we know who it is and then tell them our name. I've found this is very pleasant. I love when someone calls asking for someone else but still says, "Hi, Lisa! This is so and so. Is so and so there?" It makes people feel connected instead of like they were in the way for answering the phone instead of the person you were calling for.
technology - who cares? I think we all knew what you were talking about!
What I hate is when I call someone and say "Hi! Is your mom there?" and they say "Yes" and pause, and you finally have to say "Can I speak to her please?"
Come on, why else would I be calling? Just to see if she's there, and then say, "OK, just checking. Have a good day" ?
Really. Grrrr.
:~D
I won't answer my phone unless I know who's calling. I HAVE to see the Caller ID before answering. Otherwise, I let the answering machine get it. Because I don't like NOT knowing what the conversation is going to be before it actually happens.
And yes, I always say who I am. Except to people who I KNOW have me in their phones! (A couple of best friends, my Mom...)
I always announce that it's me. Even to my husband. I'll call and say "Hi, it's me" and he'll say something like "yeah, I know it's you. You didn't have to tell me". Then I have to defend myself and say, "well, you never know. It could have been one of the kids. Sheesh!"
There's a lady in my ward who does the "Hi" thing every time she calls me. Like we're besties or something. It always takes me a few seconds to figure out who it is. It drives me crazy.
I get that all the time, ha ha!
Oh by the way, this is Laura Lynn and I just ran into your blog.
Anyway, I always identify myself. I think because I assume that no one remembers me...because I know I don't always remember someone's voice. Anyway, funny stuff, thanks!
Hi Erin - it's Heather, calling from the UK, sorry couldn't help myself! I think the worse thing is when colleagues call internally at work and you have to have a conversation to really establish who they are - and just hope that you give the right answers!
It depends on who I'm calling. If they answer and they sound like they might have a question about who it is I usually will say.."This is Shanna." BUT not always.
And people do that to me all the time, call and start talking to me. I usually play along like I know who it is until I can figure it out. Sometimes it even happens when we are face to face.
My favorite is when my dad calls me, "Hi Barb. Dad speaking." As if I didn't know it was him:) It's just cute, every time.
But I will try and remember to say who I am when I call people now. Thanks!
I announce myself. And I have no problem asking who it is on the other line - THEY should feel stupid, srsly.
There's a fellow in our branch who calls our house all the time and just says, "Hi."
And then he waits for ME to say something - as if it was my idea for him to call. I don't know why but it drives me completely mental!
Please, tell me who you are! I agree very annoying!
I am feeling to lousy to post a comment on your last post. but I have to say lol colon blow!
I work at the front office of a school and parents do this to me all the time. Hello! There are 500 kids here!
Except for my mom and dad (although if my dad doesn't have caller id he has a hard time telling Kendra and I apart) I always say who it is before I start talking. However, I think in this day and age of caller id some people just figure that everyone is already on the same page. I always answer the phone like I don't know who is on the other line because just because it says my dad's phone is calling doesn't mean it is him. I completely understand I don't know why I am rambling about the whole thing. It isn't one of my pet peeves but it does bother me sometimes. It really isn't hard to drop your name before you start talking.
I must be an oddity. I announce myself if I know that the person calling won't know who I am, but I never have that problem with people calling me.....
I always say "Hi, it's Danielle" EXCEPT when I call my dad or hubby. Other than that...I always tell people who it is!
P.S. Don't feel foolish! It's over-rated!
Unless it's Louie, I always say "it's Jessie", because you never know. Even my own mom and sister sometimes have a weird background noise happening when they call, and I can't tell who it is. I have a neighbor who doesn't ever tell me it's her, and it drives me nuts. I think people assume you have caller-ID and already know who's calling before you pick up. Well. I don't. So I really appreciate them telling me.
OK then.
I'm totally with you on this one. It drives me CRAZY when people call and just start talking like I know who it is! I didn't have caller ID until recently so I really didn't know who it was. Even with caller ID, you might not know which member of the household it could be. My other phone pet peeve is people who ask who is speaking BEFORE they tell you who they are-and they're the ones who made the call to begin with! I don't want my kids giving out their names to some stranger.
My sister does this ALL. The. TIME. She calls and apparently thinks she's the only one that ever makes my phone ring. I told her it drove me crazy, so now she calls and says, 'Hi it's your sister Sarah.' Thank you- I do have 4 sisters and almost twice that many sister-in-laws, so it can get confusing. :)
I always say my first and last name, because I'm worried that people won't know who I am if I don't say my full name. But because my last name is "May," I feel like everyone thinks it's my middle name.
--sigh--
Yes, definitely announce who you are. I have had the problem many times myself.
Totally understand your situation. People do that to me sometimes. It is really embarrassing when you think it is someone and it turns out it is somebody else...
I didn't really know what phishing was either. I thought you had the right definition. And I did a comment on my profile page about a weightloss blog. You didn't write that? I deleted it immediately.
I MEANT I did see a comment on my FB profile page that you left about a weight loss blog.. SHEESH! (I can't even leave a comment right.)
**Feeling flustered and embarrassed**
I do always announce who I am. I have a few friends that I call that know my voice. But for everyone else, I tell them. We have a landline and our phone announces who the caller is. Kinda funny as it mispronounces:)
Hi Erin. It's me, Kazzy. I am just here to leave a comment. :)
I knew what you meant by "phished", so no biggie.
And we are getting ready to finally pull the plug on the home phone, but for some reason I am hesitant. It works out well for you?
I couldn't bear to live without caller ID! I don't answer 50% of my calls. Even if I know you...sometimes I just don't want to talk.
So anonying! I try to always announce myself but I'm sure I don't from time to time. Even if I do know your voice, I'm not going to pick up on it from one syllabul.
I think I usually announce myself. Even to my mom sometimes, which is ridiculous, since I am her only daughter and if I call and say "Hi mom" it should give her a gigantic clue in as to who it is!
one time when that happened to me it ended up being the wrong number! She was like, "so what are you doing?" and I was like, "dishes....who IS this??"
I only do that with my sister and mom. It's hard because in my ward, "Hi, it's Rachel" isn't enough--there are about 4 Rachel's in my ward!
it's really a pet peeve of mine, when someone answers the phone or calls you at work and doesn't say their name.
You know what though?
It's SO MUCH worse with text messaging.
"Hey!"
"Hey..."
"How are you?"
I had a THREE HOUR conversation with someone, texting, that I didn't know.
I STILL don't know who it was.
But I was too ashamed to admit I'd either deleted their number, or never put it in.
This is a total pet peeve of mine! Whatever happened to manners?
I am a total technological idiot. It's amazing I even have a blog...and i wouldn't if it wasen't for Heather (of the E.O.) She helps me out ALL THE TIME. Poor girl, she proably wishes she didn't befriend me. :)
No caller ID here either. And the thing is my husband's name starts with Aa, so who do you think is at the top of everyone's cell phone calling list? Yep, us. So we get butt dialed all the time. Those are the times we wish we had caller ID; so we could see just phone we're connected to.
I'm guilty of that. But usually just with friends and fam. : )
I get that at work all the time! I can only see the person's extention come up... not their names!
UGH!
There are a few people who call me who always do that! I only really do it with my parents....they should be able to tell it's me!
my favorite is when I get txt messages from numbers I do not have in my contact list. Its the same scenario only in writing. I feel so dumb saying "who is this?" because then they know that I didn't bother to add them to my contact list.
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This cracked me up. Last year, some poor older gentleman actually called me and when I said hello, without identifying himself, went into a long speech about things I needed to do for him. Because I thought he was someone I knew I told him okay, I would take care of it.
"Thanks Carol. Let me know when you're ready to meet," he said before hanging up the phone.
Um, my name is Kelli.
There is some poor woman named Carol who probably got in a heap of trouble for not accomplishing her tasks.
Whoops.
I DO have caller ID and never know whether or not to say "Hi so and so!" as I pick up the phone or play dumb. So many decisions in life to make.
I don't have caller ID either! I hate it when I have to sit there for like 5 minutes trying to figure out WHO is on the phone!!!
So, a while ago, when we were trying to sell our car, this girl calls me and carries on a whole conversation with me like that... "Hey! So what are you doing? A few of us were gonna go to lagoon tomorrow morning, did you want to come?" Still had no idea who it was... made excuses... then she starts in on "So are you still trying to sell your car? Cos I know this guy who sells cars for people. He's really good." Hm. Took me 3 seconds after I'd hung up to realize it was the most bizarre telemarketing call I'd ever gotten. And now I always ask who it is.
Want to know how pathetic I am?! If I am calling someone from my ward I say "Hi, this is Tiburon _______ from the ward"
Like they know a whole bunch of Tiburon's and need my last name AND to know I am from the ward to narrow it down!
this cracks me up...and happens to me quite often. I think it is funny when my brothers however, will call me and leave a vm saying who they are! Those voices, I know quite well. LOL.
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