Wednesday 1 January 2014

Straight from the heart..........9..........(Telephone Etiquette)

“Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential “
(Will Cuppy quote)







You may call it whatever you like etiquette or decorum, but certain things in life need to be executed in a manner, which is becoming of them. There are some ‘Do’s” which must be done exactly as they are expected to be done.....by the 'caller' in a phone-call or the sender of a formal/ general sms.

The first must-do is announcing your name at the end of a greeting! ‘Disclosing’ your name, immediately after greeting the person on the other side is something each caller must do! Many a time I have people calling me up after ages and then irritatingly asking “Guess, who?"  or “recognised  me?” as if they are Amitabh Bachchan with that definitely recognisable voice. Then when you say, Sorry, but I have not, they waste another couple of minutes coaxing you to guess....Not only is one  fiddlesticks on the guessing end but most likely offended, or then, extremely irritated! Sometimes the level of irritation is so much that one is just compelled to tell the other side that they have reached a wrong number or just shutting out!

For people who are in the habit of playing this ‘peekaboo’ games, please understand that the person who you called, may be absorbed in some engaging activity or  something requiring his immediated attention and not in a mood for stupid time-consuming games! He/She may be in a pensive frame of mind, seriously occupied, may not have your number saved by name, or may have lost or displaced their earlier cell bearing your number and/or name. Moreover, what does one gain by wasting someone’s time in these guessing games?Because  if the person cannot guess your name, you don’t want to converse? When you are conversant with someone on an everyday basis, they would know by your greeting or number as to who is calling them, but if you are especially calling someone after ages, please disclose your identity first! It is a  ‘MUST’.

The next ‘must do’ I would request all to follow is to please sign your name in a formal message or greeting sent via sms so that the person on the receiving side knows who it comes from. There are so many festivals and special days throughout the year when we send greetings in form of sms to all our friends, relatives and acquaintances. I have found that people forget to sign these messages with their names. Probably they think that the person receiving the message has their number saved with name so it should not be necessary to do so....Wrong!!! For the same reasons such as above, like either having lost or misplaced their earlier cell or long gaps between communication, the person on the receiving end may not have your number. And also, everytime, it may not be  possible to call that number and find out who sent the message as the purpose of even the sender sending it is defeated! The best thing to do, therefore, is to please sign your name below and make it easy for the reader to read and reciprocate! Infact, this is best followed for any kind of sms, if you are not in touch on a regular basis.

Small little things these, but they mean so much! Life is, even otherwise, so stressful....why not make it simpler? 

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