We’ve all been here, right? You’re engaging in the radical act of living your life, when you look at your phone screen. Multiple Missed Calls.
From the same person, all spread generously within the last time you looked at your phone.
To the serial multi-dialer “What exactly is your line of thought all during all this?”
Are you under the impression that if you dial one more time, like a rubbing a genie’s lamb I’ll magically answer the phone?
Let’s establish some ground rules for digital etiquette. If I haven’t answered the first time and second time it is generally due to one of three things:
1. I am busy: I am currently otherwise engaged.
2. I am indisposed: My phone is not on my person, it’s in another room which I am not, and I am too far to hear it ring (it’s possible I forgot to take it off silent mode)
3. I am avoiding you: I didn’t miss your call I watched it ring and silenced it… I didn’t reject the call because you’d know I’d seen it and declined to answer and would instead rather you think I am sorry I missed your call… well I’m not sorry.
What’s important to note is that none of these scenarios are remedied by calling my phone repeatedly, it doesn’t make the situation “more important” it just makes your name pop up on my screen with an increasing probabilityof not being answered.
There is, of course. If my mum calls me multiple times in a row.. . I will sprint through traffic to return the call hoping it’s not an emergency.
The solution? Send me a text.
A text message is a polite, and civilised way of saying, “I have an urgent need for your attention.”and It allows me to evaluate the level of crisis and respond accordingly.
Please and thanks.
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