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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think this man was rude?

49 replies

lovelylentils · 05/11/2012 14:26

DD (11mo) was quite happily playing on floor whilst I was phoning up getting quotes for van hire/ self storage etc and spoke to this rude man, conversation goes a bit like this...

him: telling me why he is so much better than his competitors
me: hmmm?
dd: falls over and starts to cry (so i pick her up to comfort her)
him:can you move the child away from the phone
me: (whilst beginning to bf dd to calm her) no she's ok
him: no she's screaming in my ear! Angry
By that point she wasn't even making a noise as she was quite happily bf!!!
KNOB HEAD imo! Unsurprisingly we wont be using his services.

OP posts:
LadyMaryCreepyCrawley · 05/11/2012 14:29

Some people don't like the sound of crying babies. It happens. I don't think he was being rude, it can sound like a roadside drill to some people.

missymoomoomee · 05/11/2012 14:31

I don't think he was especially rude tbh, he wasn't insulting about it.

StateofConfusion · 05/11/2012 14:32

Yanbu, its a child crying not a deliberate sound to annoy him. Shite customer service there, I'd have hung up.

KenLeeeeeee · 05/11/2012 14:32

High pitched noises like crying are ear-splitting down the phone. Personally I would wait 'til dc were asleep or dh was around to occupy them before making important phonecalls.

Original poster
lovelylentils · 05/11/2012 14:39

she only cried out briefly and I settled her straight away. it's not like i placed the phone next to her mouth!

OP posts:
StElmo · 05/11/2012 14:42

Yes, he was rude!

MrsBungleScare · 05/11/2012 14:42

I think it comes across as rude. I might think it on the phone but I wouldn't actually say it - especially if I was trying to get someone's business!

LadyMaryCreepyCrawley · 05/11/2012 14:42

My mother moves the phone when she coughs. It's still very loud.

mluddy · 05/11/2012 14:47

Maybe he couldn't hear what you were saying.

Naysa · 05/11/2012 14:48

YABU who wants a crying baby wailing down the phone. IMO rude would be hanging up which is what I would have done

Naysa · 05/11/2012 14:48

YABU who wants a crying baby wailing down the phone. IMO rude would be hanging up which is what I would have done

quoteunquote · 05/11/2012 14:48

he may of had a hearing aid in, it's a killer on the phone if a child cries.

Paiviaso · 05/11/2012 14:55

If you suddenly have a loud noise come down the phone, it can be really uncomfortable.

He wasn't unreasonable to be annoyed, but he probably could have handled it better.

YouWithTheFace · 05/11/2012 14:56

Not rude on a normal call. Insane if he's trying to sell his business to you!

WorraLiberty · 05/11/2012 14:57

I can't imagine him saying it for fun

It must have been causing him a problem

mmmnoodlesoup · 05/11/2012 15:05

Why couldn't he move the phone away from his ear?

WorraLiberty · 05/11/2012 15:06

How can you have a two way conversation with the phone away from your ear?

scuzy · 05/11/2012 15:13

yabu. you could have said that you'll phone back. i refuse to take calls where people are chewing gum, eating, not organised (tying up phone without having their queries' paper work ready), out on a street with noisy traffic and i cant hear them. i will politiely say i cant hear them give them my direct line to phone back at a more convenient time where we can BOTH hear and talk.

i know YOU have only one call to make but he had many other things to be doing and whilst his tone may have been rude in your opinion he was right to address it if he couldnt hear/understand the call.

Cortana · 05/11/2012 15:18

YABU.

He was trying to win your business, he probably wouldn't say anything unless he needed to. He made a polite request, you said no, he explained why he had made the request. Not rude at all.

mmmnoodlesoup · 05/11/2012 15:20

Well he could've removed the phone while the baby was screaming, once she calmed, put it back to his ear. Simples. I have to do it sometimes when someone's on a bus and the door beeps really loud, I don't say "Can you get off the bus!!" Grin

carabos · 05/11/2012 15:21

I would have asked you to phone back at a time when you were able to give the conversation your full attention, but I wouldn't have mentioned the crying.

SouthernShepherdess · 05/11/2012 16:58

A bit of an overreaction on your part OP if I'm honest. They guy was just being straight with you. He wasn't to know she was going to settle quickly at that point right after she cried. It can be very distracting for some people and maybe he dreaded doing business over the phone with a screaming child in his ear. Dh has an office and won't let our dd (6) in the room while he's making important phone calls and who can blame him? YABU..he's not like he said something like "shut that effing kid up"! Then I may have understood you calling him rude!

maddening · 05/11/2012 17:47

I'd have solved the problem for him and hung up :) having to listen to sales folken is dull enough without them whinging :)

pictish · 05/11/2012 17:49

Not rude - he probably couldn't hear what you were saying, and the pitch of a baby's cry on a phone receiver is evil!

Think you were being over sensitive.

thebody · 05/11/2012 17:53

Na he was a twat and I would have hung up.