Answering door/phone

SingALong

Fri, Dec 07 2007, 11:04 am

I hardly answer the phone or door. I work long hours and I come home in time 2 spend just a couple of hours wiht my kids so I just focus on them and ignore everything else. after they're asleep, I check my caller id and call ppl back...

mumoo

Fri, Dec 07 2007, 11:11 am

Marion wrote:

J Witnesses are the most fun though NJMommy.

do you waste their time and take all their written material (to burn later)?
that is fun

small bean

Fri, Dec 07 2007, 11:21 am

my dh and I have a rule - we don't answer the phone during supper and once we are in bed. If I am busy I wont answer buy usually we do.

The door it's usually for tzedakah and I always answer. my dh and I always invite them in and serve them food and drinks.

NotInNJMommy

Sat, Dec 08 2007, 7:44 pm

oh yeah, in our old neighborhood we'd get people asking for tzedakah....and I think I almost always would give except when I just had a newborn and I had no koach, even then I felt bad.

In our new neighborhood, we are not really around as many yidden so we don't get that, for better or for worse.

peach

Sun, Dec 09 2007, 9:47 am

chocolate moose wrote:

mimivan wrote:

If it is a man, I reserve the right not to answer the door no matter who it is.

We talked about that once. I wanted to know what to say if a man was at the door.

You obv. can't see, I'm not dressed. You have to say, I can't open the door right now.

If its men meshulachim and dh isn't home, I say "Please come back later".

RachelEve14

Wed, Dec 19 2007, 5:37 am

I usually answer the phone unless I can't get to it. I want to get an answering machine instead of voice mail so I can hear who is calling and decide not to pick up. We dont' get many calls though. I don't always answer the US line. It's either my parents or a wrong number and if I can't talk at the moment I just leave it and call back later.

I almost never answer call waiting. Whoever I am talking to deserves my attetnion, not "hold on, let me see if there is someone more important on the line and then I'll get back to you." My parents always answer the call waiting, even if they just called me 30 seconds before, or I'm in the middle of the sentence, andthey pretty much always take the other call. I find it really rude so I don't answer it unless I am expecting an important call like the dr. calling back, etc.

I usually answer the door. We have a coat rack mounted by the front door and I always keep a hat there so it's easy to grab if my hair isn't covered in the house.

mimivan

Wed, Dec 19 2007, 6:22 am

mumoo wrote:

Marion wrote:

J Witnesses are the most fun though NJMommy.

do you waste their time and take all their written material (to burn later)?
that is fun

Hmmm I wouldn't want to give them the feeling of victory...

mumoo

Wed, Dec 19 2007, 1:14 pm

I guess, but I know a women who did that and wasted almost an hour of their time (during which they couldn't be affecting any one else) and took all their pamphlets which she then destroyed (costing them $)

I thought of it as a victory on her part, who cares what they think?

Zus

Sat, Dec 22 2007, 3:00 pm

I don't always answer the door. When I'm busy or I don't feel like it, I won't. And I also always look through the peek hole, I won't just open the door for anybody.

As for the phone, I always answer when I can, or I will call back. (New) clients contact me by phone, so I'm always worried that I miss an opportunity. I am a doula, and I think that being able to be reached easily (by phone) is very important, and it would be bad PR for myself to be hard to reach.

greentiger

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 3:07 am

I'm trying to knock the idea out of my head that the door and phone NEED to be answered.

DH doesn't agree with this though. He says if someone is calling or visiting, they expect to be answered, and it's rude to not aknowledge their call.

nicole81

Sun, Dec 23 2007, 3:14 am

I always answer the door but I usually don't answer the phone.

I only have one house phone for 2 floors, and it's not portable. it's inconvenient for me to run up and down or be stuck in the kitchen whenever I'm on the phone.

but that may change as dh just ordered a 4-phone system for the house on friday.