I have been called Amish in the past for my refusal to have call waiting on my phone line. I know it’s unusual not to have it, but I hate it when you’re talking to someone and another call comes in, and you can almost hear the gears turn in their head – are you more important, or is the new call more important?
I still feel that way. But since I work at home and get lots of nuisance calls during the day, I’ve finally added Caller ID to the line. And I have to say I’m enjoying it. It takes call screening to a whole new level. Plus, I can add people from the call list to the phone’s memory easily.
I know, this is like listening to someone at the turn of the century describe with wonder their new “horseless carriage.” Just call me Amish Reformed.
I don’t have call waiting either. I think it’s rude. In fact, I think all phone calls are rude.
Same here. And I hate when other have it.
I don’t have call waiting either, for Miss A’s exact reasons! The thing I have is voicemail from the phone company. So if I’m on the line, they can still leave a message. It keeps people from getting po’d at me.
Caller ID is very nice — and the feature you mentioned allowing you to enter callers into phone memory is a must. I have call waiting on my cell, but I’m always afraid to use it ever since the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is talking to George with a reporter on the other line and she’s able to hear everything they’re saying to each other.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
We got Caller ID some time ago to deal with solicitors (“If it shows up as Unknown/Unknown, just don’t answer it”). Worked great. And we still do a bit of call screening, if something important is going on.
Call Waiting, though? Feh. Not only do I not stay on the phone long enough for it to be worthwhile, but, yes, it’s very rude, either to the person you’re talking to (“hold on a sec, let me talk to someone else now”) or the person you then blow off (“I’m back, it wasn’t anyone important, just my Mom”).
If I had a critical need to be reached immediately — I’d give ’em my cell number.