Don't call people out of the blue Sep17 '08

Some people believe a cell phone means "always on." In other words, if they call a person with a cell phone, there should be no reason why that person shouldn't pick up.

This is backwards thinking. Just because a person can be reached almost anywhere in the world, that doesn't mean that person likes to be interrupted anywhere in the world.

I, for one, dislike phones of any nature due to their knack for interrupting. Unless you're expecting the call, any type of unannounced, "out of the blue" phone call is an interruption. We've grown accustomed to accepting this type of interruption in our lives. Our houses blare with the ringing telephone during dinner, while we're watching TV, or doing just about anything else. Our cell phones start rocking to music on the train, or in public places. Yet do we turn off the ringing, or simply get rid of the noise? No, we just let it keep on interrupting our peace.

We're afraid if we turn off the ring, we'll miss an "extremely important" call. Little do we realize that 99% of the phone calls we receive are utterly insignificant.

For this reason, you should be cautious of calling people "out of the blue," or without prior warning. If you use this approach often, you can expect a lot of voice-mailbox greetings.

The proper way to call people includes a small token of etiquette, and that is... Let the person know you are trying to reach them. These days, text messages, email, and instant-messages are becoming ubiquitous, and don't cause the same interruption as an "in your face" phone call. Text or email the person prior to calling them, saying something as simple as:

"Hey, I have a free moment, would you like to chat briefly?"

Or how about:

"Is it OK if I call you at 6 PM?"

This way you're not interrupting the person from whatever they're doing, or catching them off-guard. They can then plan to set aside some time to chat with you. Both parties are happier, and there's no more playing "phone tag."

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Categories: Etiquette , Phones

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matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.

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