Don't Leave Me Hangin' on the Telephone
by Kris Weberg on August 18, 2006
"Goodbye" is, increasingly, the midpoint of every conversation I have online or on wireless. Every phone call with a friend or relative seems to turn into one of Eliot's winding streets, though usually neither tedious nor insidious.
I thought this might help, but it's painfully generic advice:
There are several ways that you can end a long phone call without making up a story or sounding rude:
Leave the conversation open.
Promise to finish your discussion at another time.
End on an "up" note.
Tell the person how much you've enjoyed speaking with him/her.
As long as you are honest and polite with the other person, you shouldn't have any problems getting off the phone and onto something else.
And then I felt oddly guilty that I was looking up sneaky ways of getting out of talking to people. And at any rate, there's a kind of easy and langorous pleasure in winding away the evening that way, without the need to make up some slight pretext of further sociality -- coffee, bar, movie, etc. -- to justify talking. Just call, and go on as long as you care to.
It's so much trickier online, though, where you don't even have the vocal cues and the sort of timing to figure out how and when to go off. And in chats, there's always what I call "conversation overlap," in which one respondent or other manages to reply in between two halves of an incomplete statement. I've certainly had one or two friends with whom online chatting became an exercise in mutual annoyance.
Technology has long since outstripped politesse, though, and I guess I must resign myself to that. Now, if only I could figure out how to end this blog post without
Two Replies to Don't Leave Me Hangin' on the Telephone
Amy Austin | August 24, 2006
Heheh...
Berserk Wig
Legend has it that Kris Weberg's head is filled with delicious candy, which is why he avoids blindfolded children carrying sticks. Fortunately for you, he's decided to empty the leftovers here at his blog for your amusement and bemusement. Read more »
Cardinal Sins of the Blogosphere
Hey, is this thing on? I realize that blogging is meant to give everyone a picture of the blogger's ongoing life, but to be frank, I haven't really had one of those in awhile. Between exams reading, doing minor administrative work for a department working group, working up a course proposal for Fall '08, and complaining about much of the above I haven't gotten so much done. Go »Collaborative Theatre with Irrational Actors
At a certain point, I guess everyone realizes that it's no use arguing with someone who's coming from virtually a different planet in terms of assumptions and opinions. And at a certain other point, some people realize that they cannot stop despite the uselessness of going on. While that sort of argument only very rarely happens to me here at TC, it certainly happens to me elsewhere, where I use various Zaba-proof psuedonyms to conduct my arguments about subjects ranging from the pointless to the inane. Go »Like, Real Gone, Daddy-O
I've been fairly busy for the last several days, going through writing-tutor training for Fall, reading for exams, and using Go »* 'Round Midnight
First things first: Megan Baxter wins round 1 of the "guess the subject line themes" game. Go Megan! I'll keep a running tally of wins. Go »Negative Attention
Adri's post reminds me of an incident at a Wal*Mart involving myself and some of my friends a few years ago in Peoria. Since she doesn't compromise her rants with dialogue, I guess I'll post it here. Bored and a bit crazed by finals at 3am one early December Saturday, myself, my dorm neighbors Brant Baker* and Ted HItchens* piled into Brant's massive boater of a car -- he was the only one of us froshes with a car at B.U. Go »
Jackie Mason | August 20, 2006
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