Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
If I get a cold call I say "Sorry, wrong number!" and put the phone down, sometimes with just sufficient delay to catch a baffled comment from the caller.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
There is a fountain outside of the Harvard University Science Building, and lecturers sometimes bring their classes outdoors in nice weather.
One day, I was walking past, listening to the lecture when a cell phone began to ring from inside some student's backpack. It rang and rang...the owner didn't dare answer it...the professor, without missing a beat, picked up the backpack and dropped it into the fountain. The phone stopped...
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
On a bit of a (related) tangent, when I was young, my friend Chris used to carry around a small VHF oscillator circuit he'd built on a little printed circuit board (when these things were new), and go and stand outside TV rental shops, where they would have several TVs on. By placing his finger on various parts of the circuit, he could tune it to interfere with the TVs so the picture would roll, slip, waver, disintegrate, etc. Larf? I nearly did...
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
Love the clip. Even the cellist got into it.
Our joke is that the phone is on vibrate and if it's in my husband's pocket (where he usually keeps it) I call him to tell him that I'm giving him a thrill from a distance.
Today I was in a nursing home where they won't let you keep the cell phone on because it really bother's the patients with dementia.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
That was hilarious! The perfect response to a cell phone user in your performance.
Has anyone ever seen Trigger Happy TV where the guy answers his enormous cell phone and screams into it? "HELLO? YEAH I'M IN AN ART GALLERY... AN AAAAART GALLERY!!! NAH, IT'S RUBBISH! CIAO!"
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I put the sound of a bird chirping as my ring tone and if I forget to turn it off people rarely notice it, or they start looking around for the bird. People in general aren't at all annoyed by it and when they realize it's my phone they're usually even delighted. Also, because it's a natural sound someone talking (or lecturing) can easily ignore it.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I have a bird call on mine as well....only its a rooster crowing (thats for work calls as they usually mean something very important when I am off duty). Personally I think cellphones are a tool not a device that allows others to keep tabs on you but a communication tool which you choose to use and when. Silent or off has its uses.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I was in a sesh and the wifes phone rang with a band enquiry - I went outside to take the call and the session followed me outside and carried on playing.
The caller laughed that much she booked us anyway.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
The unfortunate cold caller who asked to speak to my husband.
"I'm afraid he died recently"
"Oh, I'm really sorry, what happened?"
"He worked at a call centre, and . . you know those aerosol foghorns?"
"Yes"
"well, he must have annoyed someone, and they let the aerosal foghorn off into the phone, and it gave him a brain haemorage and he died"
"Oh, that's awful, thats terrible"
"yes, almost as awful as you believing me. Goodbye"
Sorry about the spelling of haemorrage. Haven't got time to get Word up and spellcheck it!
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
When the offender finishes their call, mimic their ringtone on your instrument (easiest if they have a musical one, but not impossible if they don't) and laugh as they try to answer their phone.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I find texting to be pretty inoffensive. It's what I use 90% of the time with my phone anyway. Although I used to commute with someone who would text while driving the car... that was odd.
We get calls all the time at work from phone companies and loan services soliciting our business. I tell them the owner's in Australia - well, that's actually true the last time I used the excuse.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
In the UK using a phone (voice or texting) while driving is almost a hanging offence (well, a £1000 fine), and could turn "careless driving" into the far more serious "dangerous driving" in the event of a crash. It's been pointed out time and again by those who know about these things that using a phone while driving uses up a lot of the brain's resources (i.e. it's a very major distraction), more even than when the driver has consumed alcohol - not that that's to be recommended either.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I have one which always seems to work with cold callers.
"Sorry, who did you say you were? Oh, right. I can't take your call at the moment, but can I please have your home telephone number so I can call you personally at home."
This gets rid of them pretty quickly.
A good friend of mine used to have a sticker on his front door which read 'No junk mail and no calls from anyone who thinks they know more about God than I do".
Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BujoOxjB3b4
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
If I am at the theatre and someone's $#%&@ cell phone goes off, I say "Hello, Stupid here". I usually get some laughs.
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by feardearg
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
Superb! If a phone goes off, I usually say "If that's my agent, tell him I'm busy"!
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by Mark Harmer
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
thats a good clip.Enjoyed that
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by richard white
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
Great lines folks, I may have to appropriate them...
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
If I get a cold call I say "Sorry, wrong number!" and put the phone down, sometimes with just sufficient delay to catch a baffled comment from the caller.
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by lazyhound
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
You can also baffle callers by answering the phone with "Can I speak to Fred, please?" - and since *they* called *you* it totally throws them.
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by Mark Harmer
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
That clip was amazing.
When I was young I used to call two people on different phones and hold the phones together to hear a rather funny conversation.
1: Hello
2: Hello
(long pause)
1: did you call?
2: no, you called me.
1: no i didn't!
(etc, etc)
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by mehitabel23
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
When I get a sales call, I first ask them for their mailing address.
"What for?"
"To send the bill."
"What bill?"
"I charge companies $25.00 to use my phone for advertising purposes."
Hangup
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by feardearg
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
There is a fountain outside of the Harvard University Science Building, and lecturers sometimes bring their classes outdoors in nice weather.
One day, I was walking past, listening to the lecture when a cell phone began to ring from inside some student's backpack. It rang and rang...the owner didn't dare answer it...the professor, without missing a beat, picked up the backpack and dropped it into the fountain. The phone stopped...
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I have caller ID on my phone so if i get a cold call I usually answer with " strangeways prison how can I help you?"
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by pengellycross
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
"When I was young"
!!!!!
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by benhall.1
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
On a bit of a (related) tangent, when I was young, my friend Chris used to carry around a small VHF oscillator circuit he'd built on a little printed circuit board (when these things were new), and go and stand outside TV rental shops, where they would have several TVs on. By placing his finger on various parts of the circuit, he could tune it to interfere with the TVs so the picture would roll, slip, waver, disintegrate, etc. Larf? I nearly did...
# Posted on April 23rd 2008 by maxF
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
Love the clip. Even the cellist got into it.
Our joke is that the phone is on vibrate and if it's in my husband's pocket (where he usually keeps it) I call him to tell him that I'm giving him a thrill from a distance.
Today I was in a nursing home where they won't let you keep the cell phone on because it really bother's the patients with dementia.
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by grumblingoldwoman
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
That was hilarious! The perfect response to a cell phone user in your performance.
Has anyone ever seen Trigger Happy TV where the guy answers his enormous cell phone and screams into it? "HELLO? YEAH I'M IN AN ART GALLERY... AN AAAAART GALLERY!!! NAH, IT'S RUBBISH! CIAO!"
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by Scott Esch
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I put the sound of a bird chirping as my ring tone and if I forget to turn it off people rarely notice it, or they start looking around for the bird. People in general aren't at all annoyed by it and when they realize it's my phone they're usually even delighted. Also, because it's a natural sound someone talking (or lecturing) can easily ignore it.
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by Phantom Button
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
when I was young there were no mobile phones - just star trac communicators
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by iwerzon
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I have a bird call on mine as well....only its a rooster crowing (thats for work calls as they usually mean something very important when I am off duty). Personally I think cellphones are a tool not a device that allows others to keep tabs on you but a communication tool which you choose to use and when. Silent or off has its uses.
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by Joze
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I was in a sesh and the wifes phone rang with a band enquiry - I went outside to take the call and the session followed me outside and carried on playing.
The caller laughed that much she booked us anyway.
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by geoffwright
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
The unfortunate cold caller who asked to speak to my husband.
"I'm afraid he died recently"
"Oh, I'm really sorry, what happened?"
"He worked at a call centre, and . . you know those aerosol foghorns?"
"Yes"
"well, he must have annoyed someone, and they let the aerosal foghorn off into the phone, and it gave him a brain haemorage and he died"
"Oh, that's awful, thats terrible"
"yes, almost as awful as you believing me. Goodbye"
Sorry about the spelling of haemorrage. Haven't got time to get Word up and spellcheck it!
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by c.g.
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
When the offender finishes their call, mimic their ringtone on your instrument (easiest if they have a musical one, but not impossible if they don't) and laugh as they try to answer their phone.
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by granama
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
Texting is a good way to use a mobile; you can communicate regardless of whether you're in a session or at a show.
# Posted on April 24th 2008 by Phantom Button
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I find texting to be pretty inoffensive. It's what I use 90% of the time with my phone anyway. Although I used to commute with someone who would text while driving the car... that was odd.
We get calls all the time at work from phone companies and loan services soliciting our business. I tell them the owner's in Australia - well, that's actually true the last time I used the excuse.
# Posted on April 25th 2008 by Scott Esch
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
In the UK using a phone (voice or texting) while driving is almost a hanging offence (well, a £1000 fine), and could turn "careless driving" into the far more serious "dangerous driving" in the event of a crash. It's been pointed out time and again by those who know about these things that using a phone while driving uses up a lot of the brain's resources (i.e. it's a very major distraction), more even than when the driver has consumed alcohol - not that that's to be recommended either.
# Posted on April 25th 2008 by lazyhound
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
People actually text while driving??!!! Insane!!!
# Posted on April 25th 2008 by Phantom Button
Re: Proper Technique for Dealing with Cell Phone Users?
I have one which always seems to work with cold callers.
"Sorry, who did you say you were? Oh, right. I can't take your call at the moment, but can I please have your home telephone number so I can call you personally at home."
This gets rid of them pretty quickly.
A good friend of mine used to have a sticker on his front door which read 'No junk mail and no calls from anyone who thinks they know more about God than I do".
# Posted on April 25th 2008 by MacCruiskeen