Telephone Etiquette

Miss Manners wrote on a subject that touched pretty close to home. A reader complained about two people in her life that quiz her on her whereabouts whenever she fails to answer the phone (home or cell).

My solution is simple - I tell the whole world that I almost never answer the phone. And almost no one hassles me. Well - there was one guy in my office voicemail saying - not to me - "God! This woman is never at her phone!"

At work, I get so many sales calls that any number I don't recognize is sent straight to my voicemail. Just now I was trapped by someone with a survey because the area code was the same as my other office and I thought one of my people might be calling from a cell phone. That is not going to happen again (today). I also don't return calls from people that I don't know if they don't tell me why they are calling me.

At home, I might hear the phone. I might see the caller i.d. I might get up to answer it. But you really can't count on that. E-mail is better.

Incidentally, Miss Manners suggested that there is no need to apologize. "I was away from the phone" is a perfectly acceptable response.