Every now and then an email arrives from a coworker that underlines the absurdity of life in corprorate America. Today I received the following from our fledgling Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator:

"It was pointed out to me that my previous phone number ext. 6333 worked internally but externally, it dialed out to the County Mental Health Facility. Anyway, my new number and ext. is 6104."

Must be our IT guys got Environmental Health and Mental Health mixed up:lmao:

I told him he should have kept the old number. Having the Mental Health Dept. on speed dial could be a job perk!

too funny!

my work phone number (external extension) matched someone's residence. I didn't realize it until I went home one day and asked my kids why they didn't answer the phone when I called. "when did you call, Mom? the only calls were from somebody named xxxxxxx, see, here is the caller ID log."

Gotta hand it to those phone people, they can find many ways to cause confusion.

Somehow this reminds me of a classic James Thurber cartoon from 1937:

http://elsmar.com/jpg/wrongnumberye9.gif

:topic:

Evolution of the junk phones which invariably come during supper....

My phone rang and naturally I answered. One hello. Silence. Second hello - a bit more terse. Silence. I was about to launch into my third and final hello when I recieved the following message. "Thank you. Please hold for a very important phone call."

So now I'm being called up to be put on hold?!?! :confused:

Yes, I hung up. :)

I keep getting a call at home from a gentleman who fails to dial the proper prefix and greets my hello with "is that you?" repeated several times until he realizes or usually is told, "you have the wrong number". The last time we spoke, I left him with "You know, you really can't dial worth a crap..." Haven't heard back from him in awhile...:lmao:

I have always felt that having a phone was a convenience item (my convenience, not someone else's). I don't drop what I'm doing to run to the phone if I am doing something 1) important, 2) messy. It never fails that I'm elbow deep in meatloaf and the phone will ring.
1st son "Phones ringing!"
Me "I can hear it"
2nd son "who's calling?"
Me "I don't know"
1st son "Well, are you going to answer it?"
Me "No."
2nd son "Why not?"
By this time we are all in the kitchen, I'm still trying to mix up the meatloaf and phone is ringing its last ring before going to voice mail. At this point, somebody decides it is one of the girlfriends and the argument now switches to "why didn't YOU answer the phone?!" :frust:

I have always felt that having a phone was a convenience item (my convenience, not someone else's). I don't drop what I'm doing to run to the phone if I am doing something 1) important, 2) messy.

Same here. During meals or while getting our girls to bed (ages 5 & 1) we don't answer the phone.

Also, if I pick up, say 'hello' and there's no response within a couple seconds, I hand up, assuming it's a telemarketer or a recording.

Mmmmmmmm.......meatloaf :drool:

My three year old and my six year old love to answer the phone. And I let them. Even though the three year old is not very good at it. I figure if its friends/family, they'll think its cute and bear with it. If its a stranger, oh well.

I've listened to some fun conversations with the girls, usually ending in, "uh...okay....do you want to talk to Mommy???" - too funny

When a telemarketer calls I just put the phone on speaker and say "That's interesting, tell me more about the offer” every so often until they hang up. I don't really listen just every so often when I here a lull I repeat the phrase.
I set a personal record for wasting a telemarketers time a few months ago. I got a call from a telemarketer that apparently could not hang up. He kept saying that his companies’ rules would not allow him to terminate the call. He was on the phone for 30 min. at the end he was begging me to hang up on him. Finally he got his supervisors attention it took another 5 min. for her to understand that I was not going to hang up.

If it is a survey I just say "I like cheese" until the call is terminated."

If it is a survey I just say "I like cheese" until the call is terminated."

That's awesome... Last night I had a political survey on the phone. That would have worked on so many different levels! :D

Well, since we are talking about political surveys now, and it is the political season, I would like to pass on a tidbit you might not know about. As this trick is used by both political parties, I am going to assume (hope) it is OK with the rules.

There is a particularly distasteful tactic called the "push poll". It starts with a phone call, with the caller asking if the respondent would be interested in taking a poll. Often we are flattered that our opinion is seen as important, so we say "yes".

What follows does, indeed, sound like a legitimate poll at first, but the questions soon start deteriorating into "...why would you vote for John Smith when you know he kicks puppies and licks toads?". Well, almost that bad. You get the idea.

The purpose of the "poll" is to "push" your opinion away from John Smith, and toward the lackey's candidate(s).

I like cheese.

I received a telemarketer call in my office right at the beginning of a meeting here a few months back. She started off with "Hi, my name is Michelle. I'm calling about....." I put her on speakerphone, muted, with the volume down really low and went on with the meeting while we all chuckled. About 5 minutes later I heard her say "sir... sir... SIR...." I picked up the phone and said I was really interestred and trying to write down her spheil and was not caught up yet. She said "how far did you get" I told her "Hi, my name is Michelle. I'm calling....." and could she start over, really slow so I could get it down. She went on to say "Hi...... My....... Name...... is......." etc. She was back in mute and we were all cracking up, and then back to our meeting. About 5 minutes later I heard again "sir... sir... SIR..." This time I told her I got as far as Michelle. {click} I sure hope she was not on commission.

"I like cheese.":lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

My three year old and my six year old love to answer the phone. And I let them. Even though the three year old is not very good at it. I figure if its friends/family, they'll think its cute and bear with it. If its a stranger, oh well.

I've listened to some fun conversations with the girls, usually ending in, "uh...okay....do you want to talk to Mommy???" - too funny

My older brother used to let his kids answer the phone when they were about the same age. I realized what was in stall for me and called him again when they were teenagers :notme:

This is a sure fire winner.

For all of you who get those annoying phone calls asking whether or not you like candidate A or Candidate B , reply

"No comment".

Well, since we are talking about political surveys now, and it is the political season, I would like to pass on a tidbit you might not know about. As this trick is used by both political parties, I am going to assume (hope) it is OK with the rules.

There is a particularly distasteful tactic called the "push poll". It starts with a phone call, with the caller asking if the respondent would be interested in taking a poll. Often we are flattered that our opinion is seen as important, so we say "yes".

What follows does, indeed, sound like a legitimate poll at first, but the questions soon start deteriorating into "...why would you vote for John Smith when you know he kicks puppies and licks toads?". Well, almost that bad. You get the idea.

The purpose of the "poll" is to "push" your opinion away from John Smith, and toward the lackey's candidate(s).

It's like the question, "Have you stopped beating your wife? Yes or no?"

As this thread sinks in further, I just chuckle.... "I like cheese"....
davis007, you crack me up. If you don't mind I think I'll use that.
I might also try it on telemarketers,,, "can I have cheese on that?"
LOL