Telephone Etiquette

Vincent Vega

Does anybody here find it strange that it has always been the person on the receiving end of a call who is expected to salute the caller first?

I used to get these pretty persistent private number calls from this bloke i did a FÁS course with a few years back at all hours of the day and night. After a while I began to wait for the caller to talk first, so I could hang up accordingly.

It made me wonder how it ever caught on that the recipient must talk first. It is fairly standard that when the dial tone stops, the call is connected, so why has it never been custom for the caller to say 'hello' and/or state what they are calling for first, which would help in identifying them.

This would cut down on nuisance callers and cold calls first of all. And those people who do silent calls until a specific person answers.
It would also potentially deter those who call to see if anybody is home in order to case a house for robbery.

Afterall, it is only the caller who expects and can take time to plan for a phonecall
The person on the other end is often caught at a bad time, or even when they wouldn't wish to be known to be at home or spoken to.

Thoughts?

stefan idiot jones

The word 'Hello' was created for a telephone greeting , so I guess it all stems back to that.

Sir Osis of Liver.

Bye,bye,bye,bye,bye,bye,bye,bye.

wazky

Would it not be kinda odd just shouting hello randomly hoping someone is there though?, at least when the receiver answers first everybody knows they are connected.

What's worse is the end of the call, with the bye, good luck now, bye, bye, bye bye, bye, bye etc.

RachaelVO

Sure here (netherlands) they answer the phone with their names. I never do and the first thing the caller does is ask who is on the phone. I never used Dutch phone etiquette, when they ask who I am my answer is usually you should know you called me.

Rasheed

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

The word 'Hello' was created for a telephone greeting , so I guess it all stems back to that.

Should have been 'Ahoy'.

PizzamanIRL

So if someone knocks on your door, do you expect them to just walk in without waiting for you to open the door.

Vincent Vega

RachaelVO wrote: »

Sure here (netherlands) they answer the phone with their names. I never do and the first thing the caller does is ask who is on the phone. I never used Dutch phone etiquette, when they ask who I am my answer is usually you should know you called me.

That's sort of what I mean.
But I don't understand why the trend continued to have to identify ourselves (old/young, male/female) by speaking first.

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

So if someone knocks on your door, do you expect them to just walk in without waiting for you to open the door.

No, but if i wasn't expecting someone at the door i'd probably use a peephole or look out a window to identify them first.

Not expecting anymore than a 'Hello' from the person, so that if I'm not in the mood for talking to strangers or specific people, I can hang up and play dumb. And if I am, I will 'hello' back, and they can go on from there. They are the ones calling with a specific purpose in mind.

I'll always answer for you though pizzaman.

Driveby Dogboy

ahoy hoy!
edit

Rasheed wrote: »

Should have been 'Ahoy'.

damn!

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

THE BOOO-KAY RESIDENCE THE LADY OF THE HOUSE SPEAKING

calanus

I often don't say anything until the person who actually makes the call says something particularly if its a withheld number. The person will often give a speculative hello after a few seconds!

MadsL

Rasheed wrote: »

Should have been 'Ahoy'.

It is in Czech! Pretty standard casual greeting "Ahoj! Jak se máš?"
Always thought it odd for a land-locked country, but then Bohemia wan't always landlocked.


Yaaaaaaarrrrr! Mateys!

Thoie

Because back before we could just ring each other directly, the caller would first talk to an operator, and tell them who they wanted to call. The operator would call the recipient to let them know they had a call coming. The operator would then tell the caller "I'm connecting you now". The recipient knew first that the connection was made, so they spoke first, which let the caller know that they had been put through.

Sinfonia

In Italy they say 'Pronto' when they answer, meaning 'Ready'

MarkR

So the phone to rings. You pick it up, but you don't say anything? That's kind of mental tbh. What's wrong with saying hello? You're not exactly giving away a lot, bar your gender.

It's common courtesy, and lets the caller know their call has been connected.

HalloweenJack

In Spain, they effectively say "tell me" when answering the phone and in Brazil it's "speak" so would think it's fairly easy to follow.

Sir Osis of Liver.

When im on the phone I like to finish every sentence with "Over" as if im on a walkie talkie.

grizzly

Vincent Vega wrote: »

The person on the other end is often caught at a bad time, or even when they wouldn't wish to be known to be at home or spoken to.

So would they not just leave the phone unanswered!?

KatyMac

Before I got a 'proper' job used to work days here and there. Answered the phone once and couldn't remember what company I was working for. Total silence on my part while I scanned the walls looking for inspiration! Eventually the caller gave a very tentative Hello? and we were away!

Legs.Eleven

Sinfonia wrote: »

In Italy they say 'Pronto' when they answer, meaning 'Ready'

In Spain they say "Dime" which means, "Tell me". No messin' around there.

spurious

In Polish it's the equivalent of 'I'm listening'.

wexie

RachaelVO wrote: »

Sure here (netherlands) they answer the phone with their names. I never do and the first thing the caller does is ask who is on the phone. I never used Dutch phone etiquette, when they ask who I am my answer is usually you should know you called me.

I grew up in the netherlands and to me it's just bizarre people just answer with : hello (or yellow). I was always tought to answer the phone with : Good morning / afternoon / evening , this is so and so speaking.

Guess it's all just what you're used to.

Alun

RachaelVO wrote: »

Sure here (netherlands) they answer the phone with their names. I never do and the first thing the caller does is ask who is on the phone. I never used Dutch phone etiquette, when they ask who I am my answer is usually you should know you called me.

Don't you think that's being pretty rude? I lived there for a good many years too, and adapted to their method of answering the phone because, well, I feel it's just the polite thing to do when you live in another country.

Legs.Eleven

Alun wrote: »

Don't you think that's being pretty rude? I lived there for a good many years too, and adapted to their method of answering the phone because, well, I feel it's just the polite thing to do when you live in another country.

Even though, "Tell me" is the common way of answering the phone in Spain, I never could. It goes against my natural instincts on what is polite and what is not. You don't have to adapt to everything. Rachel's way of answering the phone sounds polite as well; it's not as if she grunts down the phone.

kylith

It's so that the caller knows the connection has been made. If the recipient didn't say hello the caller may think because of the silency that the connection has failed and just hang up.

Apolloyon

MadsL wrote: »

It is in Czech! Pretty standard casual greeting "Ahoj! Jak se máš?"
Always thought it odd for a land-locked country, but then Bohemia wan't always landlocked.


Yaaaaaaarrrrr! Mateys!

Alexander Graham Bell used Ahoy as a telephone greeting. Thomas Edison changed it to Hello which was a corruption of the word Hullo which people used to greet each other in person in Britain at the time.

Sinfonia

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

In Spain they say "Dime" which means, "Tell me". No messin' around there.

Actually you get that in Italy too, even in person in shops etc.

spurious wrote: »

In Polish it's the equivalent of 'I'm listening'.

...

Matt_Trakker

spurious wrote: »

In Polish it's the equivalent of 'I'm listening'.

It sounds like Sue Ham when Poles answer the phone. :pac:

The Backwards Man

People who answer the phone with 'Yes.' What are you agreeing to ya big muppets?

lemansky

LexieOnRale wrote: »

THE BOOO-KAY RESIDENCE THE LADY OF THE HOUSE SPEAKING

Ah, Mrs. Bucket.

Alun

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Even though, "Tell me" is the common way of answering the phone in Spain, I never could. It goes against my natural instincts on what is polite and what is not. You don't have to adapt to everything. Rachel's way of answering the phone sounds polite as well; it's not as if she grunts down the phone.

Politeness is relative, so what if it feels 'wrong', when in Rome and all that ...

McLoughlin

lemansky wrote: »

Ah, Mrs. Bucket.

The surname actually is pronounced Bouquet as the girls were named after flowers Rose, Daisy, Violet and Hyacinth

Vincent Vega

grizzly wrote: »

So would they not just leave the phone unanswered!?

I'd like to think they'd at least do this:

calanus wrote: »

The person will often give a speculative hello after a few seconds!

KatyMac wrote: »

Eventually the caller gave a very tentative Hello? and we were away!

In the case of private numbers particularly, if it became the norm for the caller to say 'hello' after the dialtone had stopped we could avoid some of the issues that come with unwanted calls.
People would adapt to it quick enough i'd imagine.
I just think it should be acceptable for people to be more selective in who they allow to disturb them.
Nobody likes cold calls for some wanky survey, or answering the phone to be met with a dead line themselves upon speaking when the caller hangs up.
If this happens on more than one occasion, the nuisance caller gets the satisfaction of annoying somebody without being identifiable.

Thoie wrote: »

Because..

Cheers, very informative. I wonder if the recipient said hello to the operator first.:pac:

MarkR wrote: »

So the phone to rings. You pick it up, but you don't say anything? That's kind of mental tbh. What's wrong with saying hello? You're not exactly giving away a lot, bar your gender.

It's common courtesy, and lets the caller know their call has been connected.

I just don't see why the unexpecting caller is often put at the mercy of the person with the set agenda.
I know it's unconventional, but wanted to question the convention.

lemansky

McLoughlin wrote: »

The surname actually is pronounced Bouquet as the girls were named after flowers Rose, Daisy, Violet and Hyacinth

The vicar will be having none of that! Plus I'm sure Richard is happy to pronounce his surname like everyone else does :pac:

kylith

McLoughlin wrote: »

The surname actually is pronounced Bouquet as the girls were named after flowers Rose, Daisy, Violet and Hyacinth

Except that Hyacinth married into the Bucket family, so she must have affected the 'Bouquet' pronunciation because 'Bucket' was too common for her. We never learn the surnames of the rest of the family.

Chancer3001

When I answer the phone I just shout GO!

Lets the other person know they need to go.

minidazzler

Chancer3001 wrote: »

When I answer the phone I just shout GO!

Lets the other person know they need to go.

Same, it results in lots of people pissing themselves for some reason. Weirdo's.

Gummy Panda

I just answer saying "Yes, this is panda"