Whenever my wife, Sarah, is talking on the phone I play the game of trying to figure out who she is talking to. Sometimes I can tell by her tone if she is familiar and comfortable with the person. The length of the phone call is also a helpful determinant of Sarah's familiarity with the caller. Only a practiced ear can pick up the subtle differences in Sarah's tone when she's talking on the phone. Sometimes I can eliminate newer friends by references she makes to her past. Other times I can eliminate older friends by references to her present. I listen attentively for her to drop the name of a common acquaintance, or a place, or a memory, and slowly by process of elimination I'll narrow it down to a few suspects. She never identifies her callers by name. It's very frustrating to me when I can't identify the caller. When this happens I catch Sarah's eye and whisper "Who are you talking to?" Why do I care? I don't know, but I do...that much is undeniable. I care. I'm curious. I simply must know who she is talking to. Usually Sarah gives me an annoyed face, as if to say, "Stop being so nosey," or worse "Leave me alone! Can't you see I'm on the phone?"
I am far more considerate of people who may be eavesdropping on my phone conversations. I always begin by loudly identifying the caller for all the world to hear. I think you'll agree that is the polite thing to do. For example, "Greetings, (insert your name here)! How are you doing?" I'm sure that etiquette experts would agree with me on this one. It's simply rude of Sarah not to identify callers by name to curious individuals who may be listening in. Don't you agree?
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5 comments:
I love this post. I am using " eek to text" technology so that will account for any weird spelling and the blessing of an unusual brevity here. for whatever reason my favorite part is you seeking a referent either past or present so as to eliminate people from 20 years ago or perhaps rule is newer friends. here's a tip if she sounds absurdly excited gleeful childlike enamored and overall just unable to contain her ecstatic response..... it is probably in her returning the voicemail I left her 2 days ago :) in which case I will cover the base now: " oh hey say hi to josh for me please". life is good being back in the blogosphere!!
Brevity?
Your daughter is going to *love* this trait in future years. ;)
Glad you're back in the blogosphere, Lisa. It was getting lonely out here. Much like a forgotten detroit suburb there's nothing wandering through the abandoned, overgrown yards of blogdom except whitetail deer and copper thieves, but then!...a ray of hope...headlights pierce the darkness...a car rumbles down the rotting street with purpose and turns into the driveway of a neat little house with a well-kept lawn- THE CHRONICLES OF NERNIA!!! Hip-hip-hooray!
It is totally rude of me not to interupt my phone call conversations to tell you the name of the person I'm talking to. And even worse when you've been hovering around for what seems like HOURSv waiting to figure out who it could be...why am I such a jerk?
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