To ask who you talk to on the phone?

[Mushroo]

I keep seeing / hearing people in public having long chats on the phone. (Taxi drivers also seem to do this!).

I very very rarely phone people and if I do it’ll be to DH in the supermarket along the lines of ‘do we need butter? Ok, I’ll get some, bye’.

The world of long chatty phone calls is alien to me.

So if you phone people when you’re out and about, who do you speak to? What about?

(I’m not NT so sorry if it’s really obvious!)

My parents, who live two hours away and my best friend who lives the other side of the country. I often make these calls whilst walking the dog. I speak to my best friend every week day morning whilst we are both walking our dogs.

No one if I can help it!

Oh and what about? Whatever is going on in our lives - kids generally but also older parents, state of the economy, what we would do if we won the lottery (which neither of us do) -usual shite.

The only calls I make are to people I need to order things from or book an appointment with when I can't do it online. I burst a pipe the other day and I had to ring dh to ask where the stopcock to that part of the house is. Other than that, if I rang him, he would naturally assume someone has died or the car broke down and I'm stuck.

My friends. We talk about everything under the sun, gossip, work stuff, family stuff, current events

i talk to my ex- we are still friends and we talk about everything too. Helps me get thru my work day.

I never call anyone 'for a chat' unless it's a special occasion, only ever use the phone if I need to do something quickly (book an appointment, chase something up, to ask DH if we need anything while I'm in the shop etc).

Last time DH called me it was because he'd had a traffic accident. Mum called at the weekend to check we were safe after the explosion in Jersey.

I wonder this too tbh. The only people I speak to on the phone outside work are dh, and only that if he's driving back from somewhere.

I don't chat on the phone if out and about, but if a professional rings about my DD then I would speak to them if I could find somewhere quiet rather than ask them to ring back.
I do chat at home on the phone to a couple of friends and to my parents and brother.

My parents.

Taxi drivers often stay on the phone with one another for safety btw, but also because many are not from this country they also use the time to talk to family back home (wherever that might be).

I have wondered the same thing for the past few years now. I see people everywhere yakking on their phones. Who are they talking to and what about?

My mum and my son who is away at uni. I rarely speak to anyone on the phone, sometimes doctors if I can't book an appointment online, but that's about it.

My DP (we don’t live together)
my adult daughters
my mum
all to chat for ages about everything

Same.

The only time I answer the phone outside is if it's the school or my elderly parents in case of emergency and then it's kept very short. I never hold calls in public places but that's because I respect their privacy. Just to add nobody wants to hear your shouty voices and what happened to your uncles dog while you are on public transport.

It’s fascinating isn’t it? We brought our neighbour’s teen DD on holiday with us a few years back and she was almost constantly on the phone to her mum.

she wasn’t homesick or upset or needing anything btw, she would just be calling her mum talking about literally nothing. For ages.

Where are you?
At work.
What you doing?
packing some stuff.

half an hour goes by… repeat.

Comfort thing I guess!

I used to work with someone who'd be on the phone to her husband as she walked in. Speak with him throughout the day, phone call all lunch, then straight on the phone at the end of the day, chatting to him all the way home. Everyday. What on Earth did they find to speak about? We had v boring office jobs as well so not like anything interesting to share.

I don't phone anyone. I used to phone my grandma but she's dead now and we never had anything to say anyway 😬

Literally no one, unless preschool calls me, or I call DH to ask him to grab something while he's on his way home. I avoid calls wherever possible because I'd rather deal with whatever I need in my own time, often v early morning or late evening when kids are in bed

Just my mum and hubby! Very sad I know

Mostly my mum or aunts. But I do that at home.

if out and about usually only to speak to DH around picking me up

My mum (she only lives 5 mins up the road and I see her most days too!!). My sister (also lives in the same street). Apart from that just school, dentist, optician etc..

I absolutely hate speaking on the phone these days. I don't know what it is, something about not seeing the face of the person I'm speaking to, plus I panic whenever I see someone's calling me as I immediately assume the worst. My dm rang me yesterday and started blathering on and I wanted to interrupt with 'why are you calling?', if she'd stated she was ringing for a chat it would have been easier but I was trying to work out whether she was asking me to do something (by hinting) while unable to read facial cues, plus we kept talking over each other. I couldn't wait to end the call.

I suspect I'm not entirely NT if that helps.

Can't remember the last time I made/received a wanted phone call on my mobile when out and about.

We still use a landline to speak to some relatives but obviously that's in the house.

I never use my phone when I'm outside, It's always on silent and chucked in the glovebox of my car.
The only time I use my phone for a chat is when I phone my parents to pass thirty minutes on a boring Sunday afternoon, unless I'm busy. I don't know what they're going on about as I switch off.
I don't message anyone either, I can't be arsed with all that.
I was in a pub one evening not long ago and a group of young women came in, got a drink and sat down. Then they proceeded to whip their phones out and ignore each other while gawping at their phones. What's the point of that? They might as well have saved themselves time and money and stayed at home.

Mum. I usually ring up once a week and on for about hour and half. Talk about our lives, politics, music, what's in the news etc.

Son -he rings most days. Usually to see if we are in but chats cover work, concerts and gigs we are going to, plans we have etc.

Best friend. Usually every other day. Conversation is usually work rants and making plans about what we are doing eg cycling, walking, cinema,swimming, baking and bouldering.
Work. Usually phone yo update me on stuff

That's it really.

I talk to my daughter on the phone every Sunday evening. I don't know anyone else, except my husband with whom I live.