I'm in a state! I just had to make a VERY difficult phone call, I had to do it over the phone since it was a long distance situation, and the person whom I was speaking with on a VERY important subject to both of us was on her computer! She was so "disconnected" from what I was saying and when I asked her opinion she said "hum" and I heard the computer keys ticking away!
This really hit home to me to NOT do this to people who call me!

By Cocoabutter on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 05:04 pm:

Wow. I do know how annoying it is. It happens with my dh all the time, and we are in the same room!

Without getting into too many details, are you sure it was important to her? Apparently she doesn't take the situation as seriously as you do or she would have devoted her full attention to you.

I am sorry for whatever you are going through, tho. I hope everything is alright.

By Crystal915 on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 05:14 pm:

How incredibly rude! I hope all is well with you. (((Kym)))

By Tink on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 06:47 pm:

I have a friend who does this when we're chatting on the phone and it drives me nuts, even though it's not an important topic we're discussing. I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been.

By Kym on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 11:43 pm:

Thanks for the hugs Crystal

And Lisa, she did know full well of the importance of the call, it has a big bearing on both or our professional lives!

And Cori, I agree with the casual conversation as well.
I know I am more sensitive because I have just finished a course on "Fierce Conversations" and one of the rules is "Be prepared to be here and nowhere else" when you need to have the important conversations, and I just sensed she was not listening, and interstingly enough I recieved a follow up e-mail from her and like I guessed, she completely missed the point.

By Cocoabutter on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 08:31 am:

Maybe she was on the Internet on a message board when you called!

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 09:48 am:

Kym, I was thinking about this, since it's something that actually comes up between DH and I a lot. If I'm on my laptop, and typing, he'll start telling me a story or something, which drives me nuts. Of course, if it's something important, I'll ask him to give me just a second to finish what I'm doing, then give him my attention, or vice versa. Either way, I think that you should give the same respect on the phone that you would give in person, so it was still just incredibly rude of her to not devote her attention to your call.

By Conni on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 10:16 am:

I am blushing a bit because I am bad on the phone!! LOL My Mom has been mad at me before and hung up quickly with me because I was either typing an email, using the bathroom or snacking on something crunchy!!! ROFL

She gets real mad when she hears the toilet flush. Now none of this phases my sisters and my friends. We all do it to each other. However, I have learned that if my Mom calls I better be real good on the phone.

Sorry your friend was a butt to you! If its something important being discussed I am good to drop everything I am doing and give the conversation my full attention. But just chit chatting I go on about my chores, etc... while talking.

By Insaneusmcwife on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 04:56 pm:

I'm with Conni, I continue on with what ever I am doing when I am on the phone. I don't tend to make phone calls because I am always busy but if you call and have something really important to talk about I will sit down and fully listen. But normal every day chat, I go about my business half listening half concentrating on what I was doing. I'm not a phone person.

By Kate on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 05:44 pm:

Um, you don't find it very embarrassing to use the toilet and talk on the phone at the same time?? Not only would I never do this, but no one else has ever done it to me, either. Or they didn't flush....

By Insaneusmcwife on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 06:07 pm:

I guess it would depend on who you are on the phone with and how comfortable you are with that person. Its not like they can see you. I have been in a public restroom and heard people talking away on their phones while on the toilet.

By Kym on Thursday, April 13, 2006 - 09:38 am:

I am on the phone alot, and with this person,work, go online, we discipline kids, clean, drive etc, so normally a little distraction is no big deal! However when I phoned I stated this was to be a important call, did she have time?, could she talk, and she answered "yes", I think she gave me about 3 minutes of her time than got online!
Kate, I was in a public restroom yesterday and someone answered her phone in there, yep while she was going, she flushed and walked out without washing her hands EWWWWWWW, and I think its very common for people to go while they are on the phone and they must not be flusing when they talk to you!
I was out of town yesterday, so will try again today with her, I'll keep ya posted!

By Karen~moderator on Friday, April 14, 2006 - 10:02 am:

Your post made me think and I realize *I* have done that before - and to a friend who is not a big internet/computer user - and yes, she has actually asked me *what that sound is*. And funny enough, I was posting on MOMSVIEW when she called! LOL

Definitely will make me think about my manners in the future. HOWEVER - I will say, that if someone called me and specifically said they needed a few minutes of my time for a serious matter, I would definitely NOT be at my keyboard. Sorry this happened to you.