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?

Reaching me at work

There are quite a few characters in the office who according to me need some education in terms of telephone etiquette.

I am not even talking about how to talk on the phone or when to talk etc. I want to highlight the issue of people's preference to first call me on my mobile rather than my other official contact options.

In my office, I have a regular PSTN extension. I also have a VOIP extension. This VOIP extension is now integrated with our PSTN lines, so in effect I have one more PSTN extension.

So, basically, there are 3 telephone extensions through which I can be reached. BUT there are certain characters at work who would rather reach me directly on my mobile.

If they are in my circle of friends, then there is absolutely no problem, cause I will anyway be discussing personal stuff with them like going to lunch and the likes.

But my complaint is really about certain others with whom my interaction is purely official. Even these people first call my mobile.

All my official coordinates are clearly updated in the internal telephone directory. Why don't they exhaust the option of first reaching me on any of those 3 extensions and if I am not available on any of those, then let them dial my mobile number. If your retort is that they would have tried that first and then called me on this, I can vouch for my presence at my desk for an extended period of time and none of the extensions buzz me and yet, my mobile rings out first!!!

But no. These guys have that etiquette portion of their neural network disabled at birth and so, I am left to attending calls on my mobile even when its not required.

Starting next week, for such people, I am definitely going to ask them to cut the call and reach me on my extension first.