Monday, July 20, 2009

Right person but Wrong number

Tring.... Tring.... Tring.... Tring....

"Hello"
"[lot of noise for 2 seconds] alo" (pronunciation note: in "alo" the "a" is pronounced like the "u" in "ultimate" and the "lo" is pronounced like the "lou" in "loud")
"Hello"
"யாரு பேசறது?"
"Hello, எந்த number வேண்ணும்
"யாரு பேசறது?"
"எந்த number வேண்ணுங்க
"யாரு பேசறது? நானு Jayaram பேசறேன்"
"wrong number-ங்க "
"யாருங்க?"
"wrong number"

Click.

The above conversation took place 10 minutes back and kinda spurred me into writing this post.

I am sure many, if not all, of you have a similar experience in attending calls that were meant for the wrong number, but somehow ended up in your telephone - mobile or fixed.

What I am complaining about, is primarily the caller's attitude in such situations. A vast majority of the callers seem to think that it is impossible for them to get a wrong number. They are supremely confident that they have dialled the desired number perfectly. And they are even more assured that their telephone service provider has an impeccable track record in giving the perfect connection every time.

Furthermore, the callers also seem to think that the person they meant to reach out, is actually having nothing else to do in his life other than being available at the other end of the phone line when this person makes a call!

Which is why, when their call gets through, they invariably proceed beyond the formal "Hello" and start delving deep on to the topic they want to discuss. When they are interrupted by what they feel is an incredulous "Who are you" or "Whom do you want", they lose the plot and very often respond with a not-so-humble "it's me" response. Very few, go beyond that and disclose their name and fewer still, share the name of the person they intended to call. But it is only in the rarest of circumstances that people actually check with the other person about the number they wanted to reach.

So what begets this attitude on the caller's part?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Dude,
tring...tring...tring?
Really?

Jawaman said...

sorry...been reading some of the literary pieces of my colleagues on the bulletin board...

Ramadurai said...

The conversation you had is much better. I know instances where there was no customary hello as well. If you are very courteous in telling that they have reached the wrong person, they will ring you again and the story repeats!!!