Who would ever invent such an awful thing?

[sabotabby]

Call waiting is horrible. It makes the phone at least 50% more annoying than it otherwise would be, and is an excellent enabler of drama, since it forces you to decide, in a split second, whether the person you're talking to or the person beeping through is a higher priority. I can think of no good reason for its existence.

I should probably cancel it, huh? Why did I even sign up for it in the first place?

Comments

[joyful-grrrl.livejournal.com]

with the amount of time my sister and i spent on the phone as teenagers, i think my father was RELIEVED of its existence.

but since you don't have teenagers... i say, pitch it!

[sabotabby]

I was much the same at around 11 or 12. I can see no use for it now.

[peterbilt-47.livejournal.com]

When we were in high school, a friend of mine's dad made her choose between limiting her phone time to 90 minutes a day, or getting her own separate phone line, and paying for it herself. Which she did. I find this an excellent solution.

[shoocu-shoocu.livejournal.com]

I was horrified when it was initially rolled out. It felt like an invasion of my time with the person I was talking to. And, how rude to say, "Oh, I've got to go, so-and-so is calling me." I still feel that way. I wish I could turn off call waiting on my cell phone. We don't have regular phone service anymore (although I don't like cell phones!)

[sabotabby]

It feels like I'm having an already tense discussion (because most phone conversations are tense for me) and then someone bursts in the door and starts talking. My call display is broken, so I don't even know who is calling or whether it's urgent or not.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

I actually find it kind of convenient, but you know, you can just ignore it and they'll still get your voicemail.

[sabotabby]

That's what I had to do, when two people kept calling me simultaneously today. But then why have it in the first place?

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

Well, so they can leave you a message instead of just getting a busy signal, ostensibly, but if the whole thing annoys you, yeah...

[shoocu-shoocu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. If I were you, I'd cancel it. Especially if you don't typically spend a lot of time on the phone. (Long phone calls could make it hard for "emergency" calls to get to you.)

[funnel101.livejournal.com]

Rob and I don't have it. The only times I miss it are when I'm expecting an important phone call and then have to be worried about the line being busy each time I'm on the phone.

[sabotabby]

I try not to be on the phone for very long—any more than a few minutes and I'm heading into stress territory.

[retinal-strain.livejournal.com]

I have call waiting, but nobody ever calls me anyways much less two people at the same time. The result being I don't know how to use it and end up hanging up on someone in the rare instance that it comes into play.

Let me guess, now that you've banned weeknight phone calls everyone is calling you on the weekend? And the people that call you are still the 'Group B' friends that are high maintenance?

Given that you said Group B all call you on Sundays, I would recommend getting your roomie to answer the phone "Sabs, are you home? it's so and so" tomorrow and ignore the call waiting.

[sabotabby]

Haha. Exactly. You know how I said that a reasonable hour was 11:30 am? At 11:30 am today, my phone started ringing off the hook.

[seaya.livejournal.com]

I like it, but I have caller ID, so it's easy to decide right away.

Let's say it's my mom or something, the person I'm on with won't mind holding on for a second.

Let's say it's someone I'm been waiting for and I'm *on* the phone with my mom, I can always call my mom back.

Let's say it's two people who are equally important to me, I can tell the first to hold on and the second that I'll call them back.

Let's say it's someone annoying, I ignore it.

These are all real situations which have occurred.

Win-win-win.

Without caller ID, I can see how it would be troublesome.

[sabotabby]

Even before the caller ID on my phone broke, it didn't work consistently with call waiting. Stupid Ma Bell. Anyway, I don't want to make that decision. Most of the people who call me would be really offended if I hinted that someone, even my mom, was a higher priority.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no idea why I'm like the spokesmodel for caller ID this afternoon, but I mean when you click over to mom, it's not like you're never allowed to talk to the other person again.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

Oh p.s. you might be amused by this, my friend R refers to Caller ID as "panoptophone."

[sabotabby]

IT IS!

call waiting

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

Most of the people who call me would be really offended if I hinted that someone, even my mom, was a higher priority.

whoa. these would not be people who'd even get my phone number. how self-centred!

it's not even necessarily a personal ranking. i might value the person with whom i am talking at the time a great deal more than the plumber who's about to call me back about fixing the damn leak. and they'll still get to wait a moment while i quickly talk to the plumber. when i had call waiting, that's how i used it. clients come before personal chitchat too, no matter whether i enjoy the chitchat a heck of a lot more.

my priorities are usually situational rather than personal.

Re: call waiting

[sabotabby]

It's true. But a lot of the people I know are kind of self-absorbed.

[queerasmoi.livejournal.com]

I think call waiting can be handled reasonably with attention-span management. The first guy I dated, though, would always keep answering calls while we were on the phone, regardless of how important our conversation may have been. Eventually I just suggested a "don't answer call waiting at all" rule because his judgment was so impaired.

Jerry Seinfeld once suggested (in a funnier way) that *both* parties to a phone call should have a veto on call waiting. So if you're on the phone with me and I get a beep, you get to prevent me from switching. That would be very amusing if it were technically feasible.

[sabotabby]

At least one person today acted like there was a veto. So I had to snap: "I'm on the other fucking line." Which basically made an already awkward social situation worse.

Anyway, I don't like things that beep in my ear. I hate that even more than people talking in my ear.

[queerasmoi.livejournal.com]

Ahh, well that's different.

And yeah, beeps are the creeps.

[bike4fish.livejournal.com]

Somehow my phone package came with call waiting, though I never used it (I rarely get two phone calls at once, and interrupting an existing call just seems rude). I finally got a phone with caller ID so I could get that instead.

I find caller id useful.

[sabotabby]

I have caller ID, but my phone is broked. I should get a new phone this week. It'll be a goal.

[peterbilt-47.livejournal.com]

I am not a first responder in emergencies, so my philosophy is that the person I am on the phone with right now has my attention until we have finished our business. If it's important that you speak with me, you can call back later.

[sabotabby]

I know. I mean, any emergency phone call should be to 911, right? But people insist on calling me instead. WTF?