To think that chronic mumblers should prioritise emailing over calling?

[12InchPianist]

Just got off the phone to someone who insisted on incoherently mumbling (quietly) to me throughout the conversation, which went something like this:

Someone calls me

Me: Hello?

Silence

Me: Hello?

Silence

Caller: Indistinct mumbling

Me: Hello this is 12InchPianist, how can I help you?

Caller: Indistinct mumbling at exact same volume as before

Me: Could you please repeat that, I didn't quite catch you?

Caller: more indistinguishable mumbling

Me: Sorry, who is this?

Caller: Mumble

Me: Could you repeat that please?

Caller: Mumbles

Me: Please could you send me an email with your request as I can't understand what you are saying

Irately plonks down phone

WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

So, AIBU that chronic mumblers should automatically choose written word over spoken word? That they shouldn't bother me on my phone unless they're willing to open their mouth and enunciate rather than babble incoherent crap down the line? Gah!

I can confirm that nothing is wrong with the line itself or the reception - have been talking to other people without any issues all morning.

Lol - perhaps there was a problem with the reception their end if you genuinely couldn't make a word out? Did you work out who it was?

But yeah, I'm a mumbler. My brother does it really badly too - my Dad had a bad stammer and my mum is very shy and softly spoken and I guess we just learnt to speak from them and so it's natural to us to say everything in a slurry indistinct whisper! I get that it's very annoying for people though. It gets worse if I'm stressed/anxious too, unhelpfully, as then I tend to just speak faster but at the same low volume making things much worse, particularly as then you get into a vicious cycle of them not hearing and me being stressed that they don't understand and then mumbling more etc etc. I did have to teach myself a bit how to speak 'properly', raise my voice without shouting and enunciate etc. when entering the adult world (I think at school I just got away with never saying much) and finding a lot of people were squinting at me and going 'eh? speak up!!' and I had to figure out that maybe people weren't just deaf, it was me

You'll be glad to hear I do try and use email where possible, particularly if it's something complicated to explain or a stressful situation like having to complain, but then you get lots of people particularly at work whinging that they get too many emails and 'why can't people just pick up the phone' etc etc so you can't win really!

I'm with you OP! I much prefer email communication at the best of times anyway and while I'm not a mumble, I am shy and suffer from anxiety, so I prefer to write an email and be able to think about what I'm saying rather than get all stressed out!

That should say "not a mumbler" - my stupid phone thinks it knows best!!

maxelly definitely not the reception - could tell by the timbre of their voice that this was just them as a human. I felt bad for them, but on the other hand....I don't understand why they changed absolutely nothing about how they were communicating. Just one of the following would have been useful: 1. Increased volume, 2. Clearer Enunciation, 3. Speaking slower.

I get these kind of calls every few months and it drives me up the wall as I generally only get urgent calls, so genuinely need to know what clients/potential clients need from me!

I get what you mean. I had the same in a supermarket the woman was speaking ridiculously quietly I had to say pardon but we did that at least 3 times each time she spoke ridiculously quietly! I actually couldn't believe it! So annoying

purpleme12 I just wonder whether their lives are a constant attempt at communicating with others and only getting "eh?" back.

I sympathise on one level, I used to have a stammer (still do occasionally) - I work on it, and I change the way I say things if someone doesn't understand me. But repeatedly saying the same thing in the same way over and over again in the hope that the other person gains a sudden jolt of divine enlightenment really gets my goat.

Similar but different problem: Somebody from 02 called me yesterday. I kept on asking why she had called and she kind of very quickly sung the answer from her script. She did is about three times and I did not understand it once. I just gave up.

Yanbu.
I have a client who seems to always wait until he's eating before he calls me and another who waits until he's on the motorway on handsfree and I can barely hear.

Oysterbabe hahaha I have a client like this too! He always eats something incredibly crunchy and loud whilst on conference calls, so we get to hear him chew through everyone else's updates and then intently try and decode his mumble-chewing when it's time for his own updates. He's very senior though, so none of us dare say anything!