Ending phone calls... I don't know how!

[ofwarren]

An issue I've had forever is not knowing what to say and what tone my voice should be in when ending a phone call. Today for example, I rang ASDA because a parcel was supposed to have been delivered but wasn't. I got through the call normally and got the answers I needed but when it gets to the end, I'm lost! The woman told me what was going to happen and I had all my information and then I'm like "ok, thank you very much" and the woman paused and didn't really respond, then I started doing the thing where you end up talking at the same time and it's really awkward.
It happens to me all the time. I mustn't give off the right cues or I'm not reading theirs correctly. I'm not sure if it should be me saying goodbye or them

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

I say something like
'Is that me sorted then?'
They say yes
And then you say thanks and bye at that point

Oh that's a good idea!
I'll definitely try that next time

I find adding ‘hope you have a good day/evening’ after the ‘thanks for your help’ bit brings conversations to a close quite well

I get told I end phone calls wrongly, and too abruptly. When I’ve got the information I need, I’ll say “ok thanks bye” and just hang up. With family I often just say ”bye” and hang up. Or I forget to say bye at all and just hang up when I feel the conversation is over.

Supposedly you should make small talk at the end or wish them a nice day or whatever. And when you say bye you’re supposed to wait for them to say bye too, and maybe you even say bye a second time. It’s confusing and tiresome.

It really is confusing and tiresome.
It's much more confusing than face to face. I wonder why there seems to be more that you have to say on the end of a phone call? In a shop for example, I really would just say "thanks, bye" but on the phone I don't think that's seen as correct.

I'm so confused
My DH reckons you don't have to wait for them to say bye too, that you can just say "thanks for your time, bye" and put the phone down.
I'm not sure that's correct though and to be honest, I'm not even sure that's what he does on the phone.

You can do that when speaking to a stranger with whom you’re having a brief one-off interaction. For example a call centre worker. But if you speak to the person repeatedly and have sort of a relationship, then you’re supposed to pretend you care about them and wish them a nice day, and you may even have to remember what they said earlier and speak about that as if you care.

Basically you’re supposed to pretend this isn’t just a functional call, you have to pretend you’re friends.

It's all so complicated isn't it, it actually gives me a headache.
No wonder most of us hate talking on the phone.