NEED TO KNOW
- A woman says she thinks it’s “rude” when people repeatedly call her cell phone
- “If I don’t answer the first call, what makes them think I’m going to answer the second, third or tenth time?” she wrote on the community forum Mumsnet
- Readers had mixed opinions on her take
A woman says she thinks it’s “rude” when someone calls her multiple times directly after she doesn’t pick up the first time — and it’s sparking some debate.
The woman detailed her experience in the “Am I Being Unreasonable?” forum on the U.K.-based community site Mumsnet.com, a place where people can go to get input and advice about an array of topics.
“If I don’t answer the first call, what makes them think I’m going to answer the second, third or tenth time?” she argued.
“Sometimes I’m having a shower or my phone is in another room [charging], and I’ll go to it and there’ll be 20 missed calls. Or I might be at work. Any number of reasons why I can’t answer,” she continued, adding that it’s a “few certain people” in her life who do this.
“Mobile phones have missed call notifications, so it’s obvious that someone will ring back when they can,” she concluded her post.
A number of post commenters vehemently agreed with the original poster (OP).
“My phone is for me, for my convenience. I’ll answer or call back when I want to, no matter how many times you ring. I really hate being contactable so easily,” one person wrote.
“The more people do that, the more I don’t answer,” someone else said. “If someone called me that number of times without a damned good reason, I would block their number.”
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Some people, however, said it depends on the situation.
“Generally, yes, but it depends why,” one person wrote. “If someone is ringing me because I’m 10 minutes late to meet them and they want to know an ETA or whatever, I think it’s far more acceptable than if someone is ringing for a chat or something that can wait.”
Other community members said they completely disagreed with the OP’s perspective, and said they actually take issue with people not answering their phones in the first place.
“I don’t find it rude at all if someone rings me. I grew up with landline phone calls and letters. When I was a teenager, the only way to contact someone quickly was by phone call or telegram. I think most of you need to unclench,” one person commented.
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Another person suggested the OP should perhaps consider having some empathy for the person who’s calling, as they might not mean to be rude.
“I do this [call repeatedly] — I can’t help it. It’s an anxiety thing,” they explained. “If people don’t answer their phones, I think they are dead … If someone doesn’t want to speak to me, that’s fine, but a quick message to say, ‘I’m busy’ is fine. Then I’ll leave you alone.”
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