TLW (The Little Woman) complains that I am a one-ring man. That is, I pick up the phone after the first ring. She is of the opinion that phones should be allowed to ring more than once. This opinion of hers is built on her experience at the Wanna-Be Bank and Truss Company (TWBBTC).Their motto at the WBBTC is: “Let’s annoy our members, let them wait, scare them that we will not pick-up, if we don’t feel like it.” This along with their loan approval division: gives them a sense of importance and power.
All banks and wanna-be banks, along with the Department of Motor Vehicles, libraries and any government office: either local, state or federal will teach you that you NEVER, under any circumstance, EVER answer the phone on the first ring. This is so the caller can feel the sense of hopelessness, the sense of dire need of the good graces of the receiver of the call. This allows the receiver to enlarge in importance and to exude power.
I have a phone right behind me on a credenza behind my desk, which is in a location for me to conveniently reach on the first ring to answer it. I had NO idea that answering a phone on the first ring is so sociably unacceptable, so void of professionalism, that the banks and government frown on it!
In a recent conversation with TLW, she mentioned someone had answered her phone on the first ring, “you know, like you do” as she stated. Feeling the inadequacy I immediately slinked into deep embarrassment, not knowing where to hide my face, and as a result, lost tract of the conversation, causing me to shake my head either “yes” or “no”, depending on how I felt the conversation should be reacted to.
I am currently looking for a school or institution for phone etiquette that will help me wean myself off this filthy, unprofessional and socially unbecoming behavior. I am willing to pay anything to rid myself of this social stigma, which is causing trauma and sadness for my family.
Alas, I am only human, some of us smoke, drink or are addicted to sex, me it is the first ring.
3 comments:
I would let it ring and ring and ring. Then, someone has to leave a message. I think that is more annoying to have to do. They will then wish you had answered on the first ring!!!
Remember the dark days when telephones came in one color, black, and had rotary dials. If you got a busy signal or nobody picked up, you were done. Now we have cell phones, Bluetooth (or is it Blueteeth) call waiting, call forwarding, voicemail, and my personal favorite, caller I.D. Not that I'd ever duck a call from you Joe, in fact I'd pick up on the first ring.
I am pretty sure there is a support group for that problem and if there is not one already, you could start calling all of the people you know to see if they will join. Oh, but be ready for them to pick it up on the first ring.
SS-I-L
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