Phone Manners
Now that we’re trying to sell a bunch of stuff on Craig’s List before the move, we get a lot of phone calls from strangers. A large portion of these strangers don’t seem to understand how to converse on the phone with someone they don’t know. Here an example of what happens:
The telephone rings and I answer it, only because I have to. I like to let my husband deal with numbers on the caller ID that I don’t recognize. “Hello,” I say.
“Hey, what’s up?” says the male caller on the other end of the phone.
How am I supposed to respond to this? I don’t know who this person is. I usually say, “Nothing. What’s up with you?”
“Nothing, nothing.” He usually repeats the word nothing. This means that there’s a whole lot of nothing going on, I guess. Then there is silent for a few seconds. During this time I continue to wonder who the heck this person is and try to figure out a way to get off the phone. Finally he’ll continue, “I’m calling about your ad on Craig’s List.”
Who are these people and who taught them how to use the telephone? Whoever did didn’t do a very good job.
On Monday a leathery man in fuzzy winter slippers came over to buy the speakers my husband advertised. This is Florida. Why does he have fuzzy winter slippers and why would he wear them out? He talked on and on about The Who and finally bought the speakers.
The parade of Craig’s List characters continues.
