For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 29, 2020

hah !

now who’d be calling at that hour? didn’t they — the caller — already have dinner?

Hi! This is your friend at Everwatch Tangerine Management Service. I want to tell you about our latest innovation in ….

It’s 1991, Elly. You are well past the point where you can buy an answering machine.

Just tell Michael to tell the caller that you’re at dinner, and to try later. If it’s a robocall, they sure will try later…

6 pm is when the news started. We weren’t allowed to disturb daddy for the next hour.

Elly needs to relax more. Who knows what’s going to happen when Lizzie starts dating… besides me?

Uhh, El? When YOUR phone is the one that’s ringing, that means the call is INCOMING. Michael isn’t doing the dialing, he’s doing the answering.

I wonder how many of you eat regularly at a certain time every meal? Such as breakfast at 6, lunch at noon and dinner at 5?

Dinner at 6? In Italy it would be “late tea”. Dinner is nowhere before 19.30…

Jumped the gun on that one, Elly!

My MIL invariably calls at mealtimes. But, as she is 80 years old, we answer and chat with her. Being alone in a new senior’s residence (everyone has their own apartment), she feels very isolated, as they don’t allow visitors due to the current pandemic. She can go out, however, and visit with friends in the open. Good thing the weather is much better now.

Lynn’s Comments:

I came from a staunch British family. It was considered bad form to call anyone at dinnertime—between 5:30 and 7:00. If the phone rang, my mother refused to answer, even if it was me calling!

Telemarketing class tells us that the best time to call is from 5 to 7 PM. When everyone is off work or out of school. Best time to not answer your phone is from 5 to 7 PM when the telemarketers call.

We just leave it ring and wait to see if there’s a message, then will call back if it’s someone we want to talk with.

When I was Michael’s age, I assume that wall-model phones existed. But we never had one. Only a table model on the counter between the cooking and eating areas.

I no longer answer our landline, to many scammer calls etc. If it’s a real call they leave a message.

We should start answering our phones with “Hello – this is Microsoft Support.”

usually robocall-at dinner, when you are in the bath room or when you lie down (the second you head hits the pillow).

Nobody ever turned the ringer off during the dinner hour? My mom always did.

I love caller id. I look at my phone, and if I don’t recognize the number, I don’t answer. If it’s someone I know, they will leave a message.

What if the reason for Elly’s call was that her mother was in the hospital?

BAM!

Solution, don’t answer the phone. Problem solved.

BOOM-ZING

Just don’t answer it.