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Miss Manners on "The Telephone in the Office"

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Broadpoint Properties Cal BRE #01324959

I picked up Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior at a used book sale. It was published in 1979, and has probably been revised many times since then.

Just wanted to share a few paragraphs that will bring you back to the days before cellphones and the Internet. Enjoy!

"It is always the object of the person being called to avoid the call. But while he or she may use fierce people and treacherous machinery to put off the caller, it is not considered fair for the callee actually to be out of the range of a telephone. By leaving numbers everywhere, carrying a beeper, and installing telephones in all vacation house landscapes, one is considered to be giving the caller a sporting change."

"Miss Manners has always thought all this a dreadful nuisance, and has remarked how much more quickly and efficiently business would be accomplished is people wrote and answered letters, instead of papering one another's offices with telephone messages. However, many people seem to enjoy this pastime more than working . . ."

Boy oh boy . . . how things have changed!

Broker, Realtor®

 

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Comments(6)

Michael A. Caruso
Surterre Properties - Laguna Niguel, CA

Hi Melissa,

Oh that Miss Manners!!! I haven't heard anything about her "rules" in a long time! :)

Michael

Apr 25, 2009 07:28 AM
Vickie Nagy
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate - Palm Springs, CA
Vickie Jean the Palm Springs Condo Queen

Wow, what a blast from the past. I think we have gone way beyond phone and now want instant texting and instant messenger.

Apr 25, 2009 07:41 AM
Tony Olmi
La Entrada Realty - Albuquerque, NM
Qualifying Broker, SRES, EMS

Some people sit around and wait for the phone to ring while others of us do everything just to make it ring...or do whatever else it does these days!! The shower is about the only place left that I don't have service. I admit though to having jumped out to answer a call. You just never know..there may be a buyer on the other end.:)

Apr 25, 2009 08:06 AM
Mary Lockman
Windermere Real Estate Methow Valley - Winthrop, WA
Methow Valley Real Estate

Now here is a funny story of mine:  When I first started in real estate I had a phone phobia.  The reason being my unhappy "x" who also happened to be an attorney, need I say more... Anywho I would jump half a mile and get very anxious every time the darn phone rang.   Needless to say I got over that problem quickly or I would not be here today.

Apr 25, 2009 08:13 AM
Debi Boucher
Real Estate Showcase Photography - Woodland Park, CO
"Realtor Showcase" - Real Estate Photography/Virtual Tours

Wrote and answered letters? How funny! Like THAT"S going to happen! Thanks for sharing this blast from the past!

Debi

Apr 26, 2009 10:43 AM
Regina P. Brown
MBA Broker Consultants - Carlsbad, CA
M.B.A., Broker, Instructor

Miss Manners says, "many people seem to enjoy this pastime more than working" and I think that is still true today.  We avoid "real" work by sending emails, text chatting, twittering....

Apr 27, 2009 05:06 PM