More on centerpull balls

"Murielle" wrote in message
news:JAuQi.11345$G25.7437@edtnps89...



I have voicemail. So, if they really want to talk to me they can leave
a message and I will get back to them. Most of my friends and family do
the same thing. No one really expects to get an actual person on the
phone anymore around here. ;-))

Heavens! Is that really true?

Yes. The fact is, that people are busy, and when you count cell phones
and second lines, internet etc., they'd never have any time for themselves
or their children if they answered the phone(s) every time they rang.

But much of the time in our house it IS the 'children' who are ringing!

For myself, it comes down to energy. I don't have the energy to spend
three or more hours each day talking on the phone. I need to be able to
decide when and with whom I speak.

You're free to limit a conversation ...

I think what many people forget is that we have phones, etc., for *our*
convenience, not for the convenience of others. Good manners have taken a
hike in the past few years. No one who has called me in
I-don't-know-how-long has asked if they've caught me at a bad time, or if
I'm free to settle in for a long chat.

That's a shame, I always do and people ask me the same. I think we must be
living in a different culture.

People assume that my time is theirs whenever *they* feel like it. I
don't have a cordless phone so when I take a call I can't get on with
whatever I might have been doing, or might need to do during a long call.
Turning my phone off and using the voicemail I pay for is the sensible
option.

We have a 'wheelie' phone in the dining room, the sitting room and our
bedroom. Here in the 'office' I have a fixed phone and there's one in the
hall too but that's rarely used. We tend to carry a wheelie around with us
because we spend a lot of time outside and don't want to miss calls. There's
a free voicemail service here but we don't even bother with that :-)

Although it was a son who complained most vociferously I know that we
might have been missing customers, it's important to be available for
them

But even businesses use voicemail and I rarely get through to a person.
Mostly it's voicemail. It is acceptable and therefore expected.

It's not acceptable to me, nor to many people. It's a courtesy to be
answered by a real person.

I'm not criticising your choice, Murielle, it's just not the same as mine,
nor of most of the people I know.

To most of us the phone takes precedence over other things, unless we have a
visitor. Often a visitor will urge us to accept the call. It's comparable
with answering a knock or ring at the door.

Mary

"Not Likely" notinthislifetime@yougottabejoking wrote in message
...
"Murielle" wrote in message
news:JAuQi.11345$G25.7437@edtnps89...


We have an answering machine that picks up after three rings. I
personally hate speaking to answering machines myself, so I try to answer
when I can... or when I'm within earshot to hear it. It actually does
come in handy though as we are sometimes in another room and don't hear
the phone, but when the answering machine picks up we hear the voices
talking. If it is a telemarketer (they certainly leave messages here,
it's VERY annoying) we just ignore it and delete it afterward, but if it's
a friend or family we try to grab it before they hang up. They've all
gotten used to "Jeeves" answering the phone now LOL and just start talking
with "Hello... if you're there pick up, it's me!....


We have a couple of friends who do that, it amuses me but I can understand
it in their cases. They always answer the door though ... :-)

Mary

On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:47:43 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

To most of us the phone takes precedence over other things, unless we have a
visitor. Often a visitor will urge us to accept the call. It's comparable
with answering a knock or ring at the door.

Mary

In our area, we are inundated with telemarketers calling all times of
the day and night, desperate to sell their cr*p. When we got up to
more than 3 dozen calls a day, despite signing up on the No Call list,
I took matters into my own hands.

I work for myself, and I don't have time to dash for the phone every
minute of the day, and everyone who has a legit reason to our house
call knows this. Everyone who should also knows I've changed our
answering machine message, because telemarketers, despite being told
that they MUST remove your number from their system when you require
it, are not doing so, because most have automated dialing systems.
However, someone smarter than their equipment posted the answer online
how you get the garbage calls all but eliminated. The trick is to
always let your answering machine answer for about 6 months, and for
your outgoing message, find and record as the first part of your
outgoing message the phone's "special information tone" and have that
play on your machine FIRST and have a 5 second silence follow it
before your actual outgoing message plays.

What does that do? It tells the automated computer constantly dialing
your number that your number is no longer in use, and it is
automatically deleted from their database. It takes a few months to
get yourself out of all of them, and then after a couple more months,
they will usually try again, but we don't get dozens of telemarketers
calling every single day, nor do the ones who have operators listening
in on the dialing bother to leave annoying messages because nearly
everyone recognizes the tone as the "this line has been disconnected"
signal, and since they are paid by how many sales they get, which
requires an actual person to answer, they don't bother to listen until
the outgoing message kicks in, which I recorded after a 5 second
silence after the tone, as recommended when I looked up online how to
stop the constant unwanted calls.

This way, I can live my life in peace and still pay attention to
incoming calls. For those times when they try again, I have caller
ID, and if they don't send their info, which some of them continue to
not ID themselves despite the gov't telling them they must, I simply
don't answer and after a couple of weeks, we are clear again for
another 4-6 months. Those few people I know who have a cell that
doesn't give their name, Caller ID still displays their number, and
those I recognize, so I know to pick up when I'm home.

Leah

"Leah" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:47:43 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

To most of us the phone takes precedence over other things, unless we have
a
visitor. Often a visitor will urge us to accept the call. It's comparable
with answering a knock or ring at the door.

Mary

In our area, we are inundated with telemarketers calling all times of
the day and night, desperate to sell their cr*p. When we got up to
more than 3 dozen calls a day, despite signing up on the No Call list,
I took matters into my own hands.

We don't have that. Yet.

When we do I'll probably get a handset with caller display so that I'll know
whether to answer.

I certainly can't do with dashing to a phone, which is why we carry wheelie
phones with us.

Mary

"Not Likely" notinthislifetime@yougottabejoking wrote in message
...
"Murielle" wrote in message
news:JAuQi.11345$G25.7437@edtnps89...

I have voicemail. So, if they really want to talk to me they can leave
a message and I will get back to them. Most of my friends and family
do the same thing. No one really expects to get an actual person on
the phone anymore around here. ;-))

Heavens! Is that really true?

Yes. The fact is, that people are busy, and when you count cell phones
and second lines, internet etc., they'd never have any time for
themselves or their children if they answered the phone(s) every time
they rang. For myself, it comes down to energy. I don't have the energy
to spend three or more hours each day talking on the phone. I need to be
able to decide when and with whom I speak.

We have an answering machine that picks up after three rings. I
personally hate speaking to answering machines myself, so I try to answer
when I can... or when I'm within earshot to hear it. It actually does
come in handy though as we are sometimes in another room and don't hear
the phone, but when the answering machine picks up we hear the voices
talking. If it is a telemarketer (they certainly leave messages here,
it's VERY annoying) we just ignore it and delete it afterward, but if it's
a friend or family we try to grab it before they hang up. They've all
gotten used to "Jeeves" answering the phone now LOL and just start talking
with "Hello... if you're there pick up, it's me!.... Okay, no answer, so
I'll assume you're not home at the moment. Okay, I'll call back a bit
later."

*hugs*
Gemini

LOL! I used to get terribly frustrated by voicemail and answering machines.
I still tend to stumble through voicemail I leave, but when an actual person
answers I barely know how to handle it. ;-))

I used to worry about getting to the phone, even when I had an answering
machine, but then, after I got sick, I don't worry so much. If it's
important people know to either to email me or leave voicemail.

Murielle

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Murielle" wrote in message
news:JAuQi.11345$G25.7437@edtnps89...



I have voicemail. So, if they really want to talk to me they can leave
a message and I will get back to them. Most of my friends and family
do the same thing. No one really expects to get an actual person on
the phone anymore around here. ;-))

Heavens! Is that really true?

Yes. The fact is, that people are busy, and when you count cell phones
and second lines, internet etc., they'd never have any time for
themselves or their children if they answered the phone(s) every time
they rang.

But much of the time in our house it IS the 'children' who are ringing!

Ah. That explains a lot. My friends who have children have very young
children.

For myself, it comes down to energy. I don't have the energy to spend
three or more hours each day talking on the phone. I need to be able to
decide when and with whom I speak.

You're free to limit a conversation ...

Sometimes that works. Sometimes that doesn't. Short of hanging up on them,
some people just don't "get it" when one says, "I have to go."

I think what many people forget is that we have phones, etc., for *our*
convenience, not for the convenience of others. Good manners have taken
a hike in the past few years. No one who has called me in
I-don't-know-how-long has asked if they've caught me at a bad time, or if
I'm free to settle in for a long chat.

That's a shame, I always do and people ask me the same. I think we must be
living in a different culture.

Most of the time I do, too. On occasion I forget, but usually I ask before
settling in for a long chat. I think that some people think "disabled"
means "always available".
;-))

People assume that my time is theirs whenever *they* feel like it. I
don't have a cordless phone so when I take a call I can't get on with
whatever I might have been doing, or might need to do during a long call.
Turning my phone off and using the voicemail I pay for is the sensible
option.

We have a 'wheelie' phone in the dining room, the sitting room and our
bedroom. Here in the 'office' I have a fixed phone and there's one in the
hall too but that's rarely used. We tend to carry a wheelie around with us
because we spend a lot of time outside and don't want to miss calls.
There's a free voicemail service here but we don't even bother with that
:-)

Having a phone you can "take with you" makes a huge difference. I've
thought about getting a cordless phone. I actually had one for a short
while, but it only worked once or twice and then it died. (It was a gift,
so I can't complain too loudly about it.)

Although it was a son who complained most vociferously I know that we
might have been missing customers, it's important to be available for
them

But even businesses use voicemail and I rarely get through to a person.
Mostly it's voicemail. It is acceptable and therefore expected.

It's not acceptable to me, nor to many people. It's a courtesy to be
answered by a real person.

It is a courtesy. It is no longer the norm. I remember being taught that
it was good manners to answer the phone by the third ring. That was back in
the days when not everyone had a phone and Miss Manners was respected.

I'm not criticising your choice, Murielle, it's just not the same as mine,
nor of most of the people I know.

Um ... okay.

To most of us the phone takes precedence over other things, unless we have
a visitor. Often a visitor will urge us to accept the call. It's
comparable with answering a knock or ring at the door.

I'm going to assume that "us" refers to you and the people you mention in
the previous paragraph. ;-))

I too was taught that a visitor, or an "in-person" customer had priority
over a phone call. Sadly, in business, that is no longer the case as I
discovered much to my chagrin about a year ago at the post office. After
standing in line for over half an hour I finally got to the counter and the
postal worker took a phone call. I was flabberghasted. When I expressed my
astonishement she informed me that everyone got their turn, including the
people on the phone. The world is changing.

Murielle

Mary

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Not Likely" notinthislifetime@yougottabejoking wrote in message
...
We have an answering machine that picks up after three rings. I
personally hate speaking to answering machines myself, so I try to answer
when I can... or when I'm within earshot to hear it. It actually does
come in handy though as we are sometimes in another room and don't hear
the phone, but when the answering machine picks up we hear the voices
talking. If it is a telemarketer (they certainly leave messages here,
it's VERY annoying) we just ignore it and delete it afterward, but if
it's a friend or family we try to grab it before they hang up. They've
all gotten used to "Jeeves" answering the phone now LOL and just start
talking with "Hello... if you're there pick up, it's me!....

We have a couple of friends who do that, it amuses me but I can understand
it in their cases. They always answer the door though ... :-)

? We answer the door all the time... unless we're in the back of the house
and don't hear them knocking (our house is almost soundproof when you aren't
in the same area as another person... if I'm in the kitchen and Matthew is
in the livingroom, with the computer room between us, and one speaks.. the
other one barely hears mumbling if anything at all). Most times we *do*
know people are at the door because Casper is in the house and letting us
know LOUDLY that someone is there... but if he's in the back yard and hasn't
noticed them and we're in the kitchen at the back of the house, we may not
hear someone knocking at the front door..... our front doorbell gave up
working a couple of years ago.

Oh yes... occasionally, if we keep getting the same telemarketer calling too
often, I *do* pick up and request that they remove our number from their
calling list. Especially the ones who call while we are eating, or while
I'm in the middle of cooking. Some of them can be so very rude and won't
stop talking when you tell them politely that you simply don't have time
right now... or even when you tell them that what they are trying to
persuade you that you *need* you are not interested in. Honestly, I went
through this with one guy who wouldn't stop trying to force what he was
selling down my throat, even though I told him politely a few times "No
thank you, we don't need it." "No thank you, we aren't interested." "I
understand that you need to try to sell this, but we simply aren't
interested... don't have the money to buy it even if we *were* interested...
and besides I am trying to get supper ready and things are beginning to burn
so I really have to get off the phone now." He kept on pushing and
pushing... I finally lost it and became very rude and told him... "Look,
I've told you enough times POLITELY that we do NOT want what you are selling
and you still won't stop about it. I am hanging up now, do NOT call back!"
and he *still* kept on being rude and aggressively trying to sell his
product, so I hung up like I said I was going to. Grrrr The ones who are
that bad really do tick me off a lot.

*hugs*
Gem

"Not Likely" notinthislifetime@yougottabejoking wrote in message
...


We have a couple of friends who do that, it amuses me but I can
understand it in their cases. They always answer the door though ... :-)

? We answer the door all the time...

So do we - but people who know us don't knock, they walk in. The back door
is usually open anyway. Yesterday morning - 7 am! - we were woken by the
front doorbell. It was the postman with a parcel so I didn't mind too much
but we were both fast asleep and couldn't get back to the arms of Morpheus.

Oh yes... occasionally, if we keep getting the same telemarketer calling
too often, I *do* pick up and request that they remove our number from
their calling list. Especially the ones who call while we are eating, or
while I'm in the middle of cooking. Some of them can be so very rude and
won't stop talking when you tell them politely that you simply don't have
time right now... or even when you tell them that what they are trying to
persuade you that you *need* you are not interested in. Honestly, I went
through this with one guy who wouldn't stop trying to force what he was
selling down my throat, even though I told him politely a few times "
....

That story is bad. I wouldn't have had your patience, I'd have just said no
and put down the receiver but it's never happened to me. Oh yes, there was
one time when someone rang and wouldn't stop talking so I put the phone on
the table and let him babble away to himself. Rude? Yes, but he shouldn't
have rung anyway, our number's blocked.

Perhaps I'm just too formidable ... :-)

Off to Wales in the morning for a week or so, taking my knitting. We'll be
in our tiny caravan on daughter's farm on a mountain, it's her birthday on
Sunday and I want to plan an outing for us all. Keep forgetting ...

See you all later!

Happy needle-ing,

Mary

"Leah" wrote in message
...

I work for myself, and I don't have time to dash for the phone every
minute of the day, and everyone who has a legit reason to our house
call knows this. Everyone who should also knows I've changed our
answering machine message, because telemarketers, despite being told
that they MUST remove your number from their system when you require
it, are not doing so, because most have automated dialing systems.
However, someone smarter than their equipment posted the answer online
how you get the garbage calls all but eliminated. The trick is to
always let your answering machine answer for about 6 months, and for
your outgoing message, find and record as the first part of your
outgoing message the phone's "special information tone" and have that
play on your machine FIRST and have a 5 second silence follow it
before your actual outgoing message plays.

What does that do? It tells the automated computer constantly dialing
your number that your number is no longer in use, and it is
automatically deleted from their database. It takes a few months to
get yourself out of all of them, and then after a couple more months,
they will usually try again, but we don't get dozens of telemarketers
calling every single day, nor do the ones who have operators listening
in on the dialing bother to leave annoying messages because nearly
everyone recognizes the tone as the "this line has been disconnected"
signal, and since they are paid by how many sales they get, which
requires an actual person to answer, they don't bother to listen until
the outgoing message kicks in, which I recorded after a 5 second
silence after the tone, as recommended when I looked up online how to
stop the constant unwanted calls.

Thank you for sharing that information, Leah. I hadn't heard of doing
this... sounds like a good idea... especially since you let those who need
to know what to expect when the machine picks up.

When I said in a previous message that telemarketers in our area leave
messages, I was thinking more about the ones who call saying "You have won a
weekend to our resort... please call XXXXXXX to reserve your vacation."
Blah, blah, blah.... my sister actually called them back once and she found
out that the *room* was free... you had to pay your airfare to get there.
She said, "Well my husband doesn't fly. What if he wants to drive us there
instead of flying?" Nope... the deal was, that you HAD to fly to get the
free room. Always a catch... nothing in life is free... with the
exceptions of smiles, hugs and unconditional love of family, pets (who are
furry family anyway) and friends.. ;o)

Anyway... *most* of the other telemarketers don't leave messages, that is
true! However I just went through two weeks of annoyance. The phone would
ring, I would pick up after the first ring because I happened to have the
phone right beside me, and there would be no answer on the other end. This
happened EVERY time, and the phone was ringing often. I finally called the
telephone office in town and asked them to call me back to make sure it
wasn't our phone messing up. She called me right back, I answered and we
spoke... it worked, so it wasn't our phone. She said it was likely
telemarketers... but how can they expect to sell anything if they don't even
talk? Unless these particular ones are just being paid for each number they
dial, whether they actually talk to anyone or not.. but that doesn't make a
lot of sense either. *shrug* Anyway, after two weeks of that... I
answered the phone one day and someone actually spoke to me. Even though it
was a telemarketer, and I didn't want what they were trying to sell (she was
polite enough to take no for an answer), it was nice to actually hear
someone and know that our phone really is working okay. I had been a bit
concerned that it may have been long distance calls that weren't coming
through, since the operator at our local telephone office came through okay
when she called me back.

I wonder if your advice will work on our phone too? I wouldn't know where
to find that "special information tone" on our phone. Oh well, the
information will come in handy for some other people, I'm sure. )

*hugs*
Gemini

"Murielle" wrote in message
news:amXQi.14970$G25.2254@edtnps89...

LOL! I used to get terribly frustrated by voicemail and answering
machines. I still tend to stumble through voicemail I leave, but when an
actual person answers I barely know how to handle it. ;-))

hehehe Yes, it seems odd (but very nice) when an actual person answers the
phone now. I really don't like having to leave messages on answering
machines or voicemail, and when I do I tend to find myself repeating my name
and phone number a couple of times in the message.... I think it's a plea
for a PERSON to call me back. LOL When a person answers, especially
after I've gone through all the "Press THIS number" a number of times first,
I am relieved and say "Ah... finally, a real person!" This usually gets a
laugh from the person answering. ;o)

I used to worry about getting to the phone, even when I had an answering
machine, but then, after I got sick, I don't worry so much. If it's
important people know to either to email me or leave voicemail.

Oh I stopped worrying about getting to the phone on time a long time ago...
even before we had an answering machine, or even Caller ID so we could see
who *had* called. My Mom always said, "If it's important enough they'll
call back. There are more important things to worry about in life than who
you missed on the phone." Smart lady! )

*hugs*
Gemini