chainging phone etiquette

Please, please, please, can we keep recent unpleasant list history out of
this discussion?

I was very surprised when people whose opinions I value, talked about how
awful it is, to call someone at home. They urged that a particular
conversation I was about to have happen via email, not on the phone (please
reread first para ;)

I thought to myself, when things cool down, I must discuss this with them.
Too soon? Perhaps you might want to reread the first para, then.

1. Calling people at home. What a quaint idea. Many parts of the world, and
even many people with a choice, don't have land lines. Me, if the hour is
not too late nor too early, I just call the mobile, ask if this is a good
time. Does it matter, where the other person is, when I do this?

2. How does mobile phone etiquette differ from land line etiquette?

3. When the hour is too late, is it ok to text the person?

4. Some people's phones have loud notification sounds. No less offensive
than the phone ringing. Does that come under etiquette too?

5. Where is it not ok to be texting?

6. People with big displays, even with the phone on vibrate, can bug you in
the cinema simply by virtue of that shiny light. Any etiquette here?

7. What does etiquette have to say about letting the phone ring, actively
refusing to take the call, not returning a missed call?

Have you questions to add to this list?

Now lets come to the part about mail versus phone conversation. I disagee
on so many levels.

Many people have been tripped up, many years later, by something taken out
of context from an email. I am a firm believer that unless you are willing
to defend a statement in court against a lawyer bent on twisting
everything, you should not put it down in writing.

Besides, mail is so much poorer as a communicator of emotion. If the
exchange involves emotion, you should at least phone.

Some of us are better at using words than others. Email gives them an
unfair advantage. Half of India is illiterate, remember, and the bulk of
those who believe themselves to be literate, aren't.

Arun Mehta

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