Phone call?

[Old Garage-Bander]

How many people are put off phones, not because of the phones themselves, but because of intolerable abuses like robocalls and political polls?

The FCC's Do Not Call list is totally worthless. Before you can even file a complaint you have to accumulate tons of information, on months of calls, and make attempts yourself to stop the calls. And that's just from one caller. I went through the process and filed a complaint once. I got an email form letter saying that they'd look into it. The calls, which were happening once a day, stopped for a few weeks. Then started sporadically, and now are up to two calls a day. Robo-callers have found loopholes in the law, such as using multiple call out numbers, to get around the regulations. With the cutbacks in enforcement and the FCC's focus on Pirate Radio stations and taking away more of your over the air TV, They have precious little time, if any, to devote to abusive telephone calls.

 

[Matthew Fisher]

Here's a thought. These kids tapping on their cell phones, doing all the Twitter and Facebook selfie crap? They might swing this election.

Point taken. They matter. But you need to get out more. Facebook's for old farts like me (49). I use it to share pics of my kids with family, friends, Mark Zuckerberg, and the NSA.

 

[Marikk]

IMHO, part of the problem is labeling. The boomers are expected to act one way. Gen X another. Millennials? "Whatever man".
I think we chalk it up to some label and then let it slide. If no one is held to a standard, then there are no standards and the Millennials get a pass. How you gonna feel when they jack with your social security because they think they can do "whatever man"?
There seems to be no consequences to Millennialism. What do we label the kids today once they are done being tweens? Anarchist?

Probably the same as we felt being blessed with your "trickle down economics". That sure was a winner. Call the younger generations what you want, but the old folks were asleep at the wheel..Ill get off your lawn now

 

[Son of Wobble]

I'm just going to hang out at shows (as I have been). Seems like the more sane/serious people are at shows. Just what I'm starting to gather

I think you are probably on to something with this.

This is truth. Weather you have serious issues or not the world is not nice. You have to learn to work in it or become a shut in. I do not like the everyone gets a trophy approach to life ....even though I should...you know....get a trophy....I did show up and stuff....

No spelling trophy for you.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Probably the same as we felt being blessed with your "trickle down economics". That sure was a winner. Call the younger generations what you want, but the old folks were asleep at the wheel..Ill get off your lawn now

I think you missed my point. I was not complaining about younger generations. I was complaining that the older generations seemed content to label groups, and then assume, that because they carry this label or that label, that they get a pass when it comes to living up to the standards the oldsters wish applied to the kids. A bit of a catch 22, if you will.

For your information, I don't buy into the whole, name the generation bit. It all started with "Baby Boomers". Clue #1, I is one. Clue #2, it was someone from Walter Chronkite's generation that tagged us. Then everyone born after 1960 felt left out, so they needed a generational label because mom and dad had one.
Everybody gets a participation trophy! Wheeeee, look what I won!

Someone in this thread asked who was at fault for the 20 somethings not being telephone proficient. One reply was Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. In other words the blame was placed on technology. I think the blame lies with mom and pop. That was my point about labeling and then excusing slackness because of that label. Clue #3, Mom and pop got lazy.

Maybe that was a side effect of living during the greatest economic growth period ever seen in this country. Sorry you missed it, but that was no more my fault than it was yours. Thirteen billion years since the universe came into being, and I happen to be born at the most productive time in American history since the Big Bang, and you were not? As one of my generation's TV personalities put it: "Missed it by THAT much."

I think everyone else has gotten over Reaganomics by now, I didn't vote for the guy, and he was my parent's generation.

Everything that is wrong with the world is my fault, because I didn't teach my kids how to use the phone? Get a life, but do it on someone else's lawn.

 

[DirtDog]

Generations vs Life Stages.

In any work I do on demographics in my day job, I encounter this "generations" notion constantly - ever since this first came t0 my attention and became de riguer 25+ years ago. I'm firmly in the Life Stages camp. It's easy to accept the "generations" concept. Hell, I identify as a Gen Xer, but also consider myself a middle aged white dude with family, mortgage and pension - just like my old man was 30+ years ago and like his old man was 60 years ago...and so on...even though the technologies were different.

Takes a little more critical though to accept the "life stages" concept. Here's a good article that explains the differences between generations and life stages.

Generations vs Life Stages: The Complexity of Target Marketing

 

[SkinCoffin]

But you do have to use the phone for work, right? And you do have to do so at a certain level of expectation by management to keep your job, right? So is it that you are more comfortable doing that because you have no vested interest in the telephone relationship once the call is ended? Or is it that you are trained what to say and don't have to really think much as you talk? I was answering the phone at my dad's restaurant when I was 9 years old. Not hard to do, mostly just what are your hours or what's today's special. But doing so gave me people skills that I use almost every day of my life now. This is why the pre-meet phone call is good for both parties. You get to make some judgements that will help you decide if you want to invest more in that particular music relationship. Same for the guy on the other end.

Yeah I do use a phone for work - most people do, that doesn't mean they're a telemarketer?!
I have a vested interest in the relationship I have with the people I work with, because they're not going anywhere and neither am I. Having good work relationships makes life easier for everyone. I'd explain what I do and how phone manner and communication comes into it but I honeslty don't think you're worth the time, since I've observed you start drama on most posts you come across.

 

[Kragnorak]

And we saved ourselves a lot of trouble. When I called him back, he didn't like the look in the brighter light. A few more pleasantries, and we were done. No problem.

Wait, your phone cost you a sale?

 

[Kragnorak]

So... I was reminded of this thread last night in real life...

I'm leaving work when I get a text from a musician that likes to work with me. He asks "Ok to talk for a minute in a few?" I reply "Okie" He says "I'll call when I can step away for a minute". So now I'm waiting for a phone call. He didn't call for an hour, so now the call is renting space in my head. I had enough time to commute back to my area and run an errand. He called when I was pulling into the driveway.

Problem 2: He was calling from a noisy environment, so I had trouble understanding half of what he was saying. I got the pertinent info, but any comments that would normally lead to friendly banter were garbled, so the call was awkward.

In the end, I was discombobulated and forgot that I forgot some stuff I needed for dinner, and would have preferred communication in some other medium. No, I'm not going to bother making that request. Like in this thread, there are a few people I work with that prefer phone and I understand why. I just wish it wasn't such a PITA sometimes.

 

[singlemalt]

Yeah, cost me a sale. The kind of sale I don't want. The sale that comes back as a problem.

The way I look at it the phone call and a few emailed pictures saved me a hassle. No big deal, the guitar will sell at some point.

That was the point of the story. You hear things on a call that get totally missed in texts and emails.

I don't know how many times a phone call has pegged my bull poop meter, and I've passed on a deal, date, audition, or job.

But yeah, the crappy cell phone calls can get really old. And I certainly don't mean to imply that I always answer my phone, and don't use the crap out of texts.

Most of my real job jobs are set up with a couple texts, if the boss has his junk together. Some guys, I'll never answer the phone. I parse the garbled message, respond with a text confirming what I think I heard, and a yes or no.

I only chat when it suits me, but sometimes a phone call is just a better way to go.