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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

babies on phone-- doing my head in

50 replies

vanfurgston · 07/10/2011 11:16

its so exasperating. everytime i call a friend or family member after 2 seconds they say oh hey vanfurg baby x has been missing his/her aunty talk to them
and before i have a chance to reply

bABY X: BABABABbbbbbbb
me: hey baby how are you
baby x: babab tala a atatatat kak AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
me: i love u too sweety where is mommy?
baby x: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA kKKHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA

me holding phone away from ear as my eardrums are about to burst and as predicted mommy never comes back to the phone

oh yeah so the qstn WIBU to ask my mom friends to plz not hand over the phone to their babies without giving me the chance to speak to them

OP posts:

Original poster

vanfurgston · 07/10/2011 12:35

Bertie that hadnt occured to me . but they believe their babies can talk which they really cannot. some do come back but i usually hang up after 5 min.
its getting to me now bcz i cant talk to my sister or mom without the babies wanting the phone arghhh such is life

OP posts:

Original poster

vanfurgston · 07/10/2011 12:37

oh marge thats so typical. thats starting to happen to me too.

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LadyThumb · 07/10/2011 12:39

marge2 - that is my sister to a T. She has always done it (her daughter is now 30) and she STILL does it with whoever is there. I stopped ringing her, and so did my Mum.

Hassled · 07/10/2011 12:41

I can't stop DS3 answer the phone - he's there like a bullet and is then usually quite rude. Sample call:
Is Mr Hassled there please?
No. Bye.

He once had one of those "your PC is about to die" calls and it ended with him shouting "Look, I'm only a CHILD" at them.

YY to kids on voicemails. It's awful.

Original poster

vanfurgston · 07/10/2011 12:41

30? i was hoping every1 would grow out of it. v need an intervention bcz i cant imagine not talkin to my fam or talking like this for the rest of my life

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Suckstobeme · 07/10/2011 12:44

I do agree Op! However my OH is in south america and rings every day to speak to DS (2) this is the actual phone call yesterday:
OH: Hello son!
DS: Peppa Pig!! (OH does not speak English)
OH: Do you miss daddy?
DS: Peppa Pig!!!
OH: How was nursery today?
DS: Peppa Pig!!

UADNBU!!

gallicgirl · 07/10/2011 12:45

I put my 8MO on the phone to her grandma recently. I think MIL requested it, can't remember. Anyway, DD promptly shut up babbling merrily, looked at phone, listened to grandma talking then pressed the end call button.

Didn't teach her that, honest.

It's nice occasionally especially when you don't see the child often and want to maintain a connection, but yes, it's hard work keeping a conversation going.

minimisschief · 07/10/2011 12:55

this would all stop if you say when the woman gets back on the phone

'listen i do not ring you to have a non conversation with a baby. i am not its mother and it is not cute and you are wasting my time. if you do it again i will hang up on you.

simple sorted and done

OutrageousFlavourLikeFreesias · 07/10/2011 13:57

snapesmistress - that's quite comforting to know, actually. Normally when I tell people that my mother puts the cat on the phone, they give me a sort of look that makes me feel I've just confessed to being raised by wolves...

In future I shall take great pleasure in telling them that MNers do it too, and my mother is not nearly as weird as they think she is. :)

Bugsy2 · 07/10/2011 13:59

I still want to know what cats do when you put them on the phone? I could hold the phone to our pet rabbit, but it wouldn't be a very stimulating conversation because she is pretty mute. Is it different with cats?

DeWe · 07/10/2011 14:11

But having a 3 year old answer the phone is a great way of putting off cold callers. They almost never bother to even ask them to hand over the phone AND don't call back.

Marymaryalittlecontrary · 07/10/2011 14:14

If I'm away from home visiting my mum I will ask my husband to put one of my cats on the phone! Normally he reports that the cat sniffed the phone and started purring, but he could be lying to make me think the cats miss me!

tigermoll · 07/10/2011 14:37

Fine re.cold callers (or you could just call screen with an answerphone), but letting a child answer the phone is a bit of a risk, - as I say, would you let them answer the door?

On occasion, I've answered the phone to people who are clearly mentally disturbed and just shout at you. I've also heard people who've called up to say unpleasant things while they masturbate. Do you want your DD/DS to hear that?

I can see that it might be hard to stop a child rushing to answer the phone, but that's not really an excuse, - if the child was interested in the gas hob, would you just say 'Oh, I can't stop him from getting to it'?

ShroudOfHamsters · 07/10/2011 14:42

tigermoll!

Just start saying 'Say bugger for Auntie X' into the phone as soon as you have your captive audience. That'll stop them.

LauraShigihara · 07/10/2011 14:43

I want Hassled's son here to deal with MY cold callers.

DMCWelshCakes · 07/10/2011 14:47

I have been known to let DiddyDragon loose on the phone when a cold caller has rung. I tell them I'm just turning the telly down so I can hear better, hand the phone over & wait to see how long it takes before they hang up, bored to tears with an in-depth analysis of where Iggle Piggle's blanket has gone.

Will be training DiddyCakes to do the same as soon as he can talk, just in case DiddyDragon's busy when they call.

tigermoll · 07/10/2011 14:56

In defense of an indefensible profession.....

We phone-monkeys are not bad people, and very few of us are actual cold callers. For example, where I work, we only call back people who have willingly put their phone number into a website which offers a callback service. You then phone up and recieve an earfull of abuse from people who will deny that they ever made that request, that they have ever heard of the company, that they ever used the internet or even own a phone. They hang up on you, swear at you, attempt clumsily to take the piss out of you, blow whistles at you, and all for a service that they have requested. They speak to you in a way they would never DARE if you were face to face.

No one wants to work in a call centre. I have been looking for another job since I got here. So spare a thought for us call-centre workers, before you mock us.....

SmethWitchBelle · 07/10/2011 14:59

I don't tend to do it normally as the first thing DS2 says to anyone who he is speaking to is BYE BYE and then he shoves the phone back at me. DS1 has a tendency to say straight off the bat "I want to stop talking now because I am watching telly" instead of "hello Granny how are you?"

I am not a fan of other people doing it, so I try not to do it myself with the kids.

DMCWelshCakes · 07/10/2011 15:24

Tiger in your case that's just rude. I've never signed up for a callback though. And my number's ex-directory & TPS registered.

Funnily enough all my calls seem to come from people with Dutch accents wanting me to confirm my bank details...

OutrageousFlavourLikeFreesias · 07/10/2011 17:06

bugsy, a typical cat phone-call goes like this:

Me: So anyway, if it's all right by you we were thinking of coming down some time around -
My mother : Ooh, can I just put the cat on the phone? Only she's looking at me and I think that means she wants to talk.
Me: Er, okay, then.

[rustling noises, whispers as cat, phone and mother are arranged into correct positions]

Me: Um - hello?
Cat: purr
Me: Hello, cat.
Cat: purr, purr
Me: How are you?
Cat: purr, purr
Me: Um...
Cat:
Me: So now the phone smells of you? Well, that's...nice...
Cat: purr, purr
Me: So, um...any chance of me talking to my mum, or...?
Cat: purr
Me: ....
Cat: ....

[after several moments of perplexed silence]

My mother: Oh, she really liked that. She loves to talk on the phone. Don't you, cat? Yes, you do. You're a very clever cat, aren't you? Yes. Oh, she's gone. Now, where were we?

RightUpMyRue · 07/10/2011 17:14

I think cats on the phone is the way forward with this situation. Next time friend with PFB puts PFB on phone you get the cat and they can have a convo together.

Crosshair · 07/10/2011 17:20

My mum has put her dog on the phone to me before, so I can cheer him up.

Original poster

vanfurgston · 07/10/2011 18:27

and i thot i was having it rough. the cats and dogs take the prize
i have called an intervention meeting. i cant let this go on any longer

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Original poster

vanfurgston · 07/10/2011 18:29

that conversation with the cat LOL how often ds it happen?

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Twattingcuntybollocks · 07/10/2011 18:58

I put whichever DD is closest to hand on the phone when I get sales calls. Funnily enough I don't get many now

My mum and my nana both ask me to put the DD's on the phone. It does annoy me when people do it to me and I am trying to speak to the adult!

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