Friday, December 4

Hello, this is David

That's how I've answered the phone for 20 years.

It saves me time, and the caller confusion. I wonder why people still do this:

[ring ring]
David: Hello?
Caller: Hello? Yes I'm calling for David.
David: Oh, yes. This is David
In the days before cell phones, this method saved no time; it's a real waste now...

Seems that this "institution" is wasteful. Am I missing something? Are people afraid to identify themselves when they pick up the phone? Why answer it then?

4 comments:

Michelle said...

When presented with the better model (my partner of 8 years has answered the phone your way as long as I've known him at least), I realized the utility and switched over. I'm not smart enough to have thought of it on my own.

GrokSurf said...

I tried that for awhile and gave up. Here's what happened:

"Hello, this is George."

"Hi, may I speak with George please?"

Anonymous said...

If someone calls me I feel it's their duty to identify themselves first.

nikita said...

1.] 3 extra words = too much effort.

2.] I don't answer the phone anyway unless I know who it is. Caller ID - another great innovation...

Maybe if my name was Jane I would consider it seeing as 1 syllable is more manageable than 3. But I guess we will never know.