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Phone faux pas

Commuting • 1 comment • 23 June 2010

This blog entry is directed at two individuals in particular. Probably neither of them read my blog though, but those of you who do should take great care not to emulate either of them.

First, to the gentleman who was at the rear of the central section of coach number eight in the 18:32 Southern train from London Victoria to Southampton Central and Bognor Regis this evening, who got off at Three Bridges.

Your favourite TV programme as a child may have been Top Cat. Your favourite TV programme as a thirty-something adult may still be Top Cat. You may think it’s cool to have the Top Cat theme tune as the ringtone on your mobile phone even though you’re in your thirties or forties. But when said mobile phone starts blaring out said ringtone at full volume in a train full of tired commuters for several minutes, it gets extremely annoying. Please, choose something less ingratiating.

Besides, what on earth were you smoking that you slept through a ringtone like that for nearly ten minutes? It must have been pretty potent.

Second, to whoever rang said gentleman no less than ten times round about 7pm this evening.

Unless your problem is genuinely important and genuinely urgent, ringing someone’s phone repeatedly when they don’t answer the first couple of times is rude. They may not be in a position to answer, and by calling them over and over and over and over again for several minutes, you are sending out a signal that you are a demanding, obnoxious type with no respect whatsoever for other people’s personal space. Just leave a message, and if they agree that it’s important, they’ll get back to you. Besides, you could be inflicting the theme tune to Top Cat on a train carriage full of tired commuters on their way home, because the person you’re calling is too non compos mentis to answer.

Posted at 20:56 on 23 June 2010.

1 comment:

  • # Reply from Diane at 08:23 on 24 Jun 2010

    I love listening to people chatting on the phone within ear shot but agree that unanswered phones are incredibly annoying. I worked in an office once (just the once!) where the other staff didn’t feel that answering the phone to customers was very important. Certainly not as important as chatting to each other, eating and nipping out for cigs. Drove me insane after three months!

    It could have been worse – he could have had Rick Astley as his ringtone!

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