Telephone etiquette

[desperance]

I am famously antagonistic towards telephones. We never had one till I was a teenager, and I've never been comfortable with them; I don't have a mobile, and rarely use the landline. I may be over-reacting, therefore, or misinterpreting a commonplace. But. I hate it, hate hate hate, when the phone rings and I answer it with my usual "Yes, hullo?" and the voice at the other end says "Who's that speaking, please?" or near equivalent. It seems to me extraordinarily rude: they called me, which means they should know who I am; they're the stranger in this relationship. Also, this is my home which they have chosen to invade, so ditto ditto. Either way, it's theirs to declare their own identity, rather than demanding mine. And I usually say so, quite sharpish.

It's almost always a wrong number, of course, which doesn't improve my temper. Of course it is; people who are intentionally phoning me tend to know who's going to be answering my phone, ie me. I don't mind them checking, "Hullo, is that Chaz?" or near equivalent; it's the blank stranger-to-stranger demands that really rile me. It's an extension of the inherent intrusion of making a phone-call in the first place, the assumption that it's okay to interrupt me unannounced; to heap Ossa upon Pelion by backing that with the assumption that it's okay to interrogate me before ever they identify themselves just enrages me.

Or am I being precious and mimsy...?

Comments

[julesjones]

I have much less of an issue with the phone than you do, but I also find that sort of thing on a private line infuriating, for exactly the same reason. "Hello, is that so-and-so" I don't mind (as long as it's not a phone spammer), as it's simply a way to check they've got the right person. But demanding that I identify myself, before even telling me who they are -- not on. It's actually fairly rare that it happens to me, but when it does my reaction is very much, "Who are you and who do you wish to speak to?"