If I said I was going to call you after five because I was in meetings until five

[Dollysleftnip]

Would you be sat waiting by your phone at 5 o’clock for my call?
I’m trying to decide who’s being unreasonable, but I’m not prepared to run the Gaunlet of Am I being unreasonable?

Depends on the urgency, the topic and how you usually communicate.

Did the person who was being called agree it was a suitable time? Was the other person late? Was everyone still meant to be at work?

My DM would and if I hadn’t called by 5.05pm I’d receive some sort of passive aggressive message!

First communication
And it was via text

Yes, because it was meeting until 5 it sounds like you will call after the meetings end that finish at 5, so I’d be expecting a call about 5pm.

I’d wait until about 10 past to give them some grace in case the meeting ran over, give them time to go for a wee, make a drink or whatever and then send them a message on Teams to ask if they still needed to speak to me.

I would expect you to call me at some point between 5 and about 5:15, once you'd finished your meeting, stood up and had a stretch, gone to the loo or whatever else you needed to do first.

I’d expect a call by 5.15. If it was going to be later than that, I’d have thought you would say ‘i’m free from 5:30’ etc.

I'll expect you to ring me sometime before seven

i think i probably would? if you said you were busy until 5 and you would call me after your meeting ended I would be ready to receive a call from you between 5 and 6. I
wouldn't be upset if you didn't call bang on 5 but I would be near the phone in case you did.

I'd be prepared and listening out for your call from 5 onwards.

For clarification, I wouldn't be expecting you to call at 5 on the dot.

Are you my ex-husband?

I'd expect a call around 5:15.

By 6 at the latest

Well who are you calling and is it urgent? To be honest yes I’d be expecting you to call asap after 5 as most people at my work finish at 5 so they’d be waiting for your call before logging off if it was urgent. Otherwise I’d say ring me in the morning instead. However, if your work finishes at 5.30/6 I guess it’s reasonable to not call immediately at 5.

I guess to add a bit more context we’re not even in the same country. Never mind the same building so it wasn’t a case of leaving one meeting and jumping into another.
There was a stranger in between
I did not feel that I had committed to a time at all
Just after five
Which conveniently worked for them because they wouldn’t have even been up before then

Well, that's really boring. I thought this was gonna be an interesting thread.

Depending on the context, the importance and how clear you were that would definitely call (you may have said "If I can call today it will be after 5..." which could mean you'll leave it until tomorrow) I would wait by the phone at 5pm and expect your call within, say 30 mins or so? OK, maybe 20 past, then I'm off.

People infer things incorrectly all the time, they unconsciously put a spin on what they think they heard. Is it big deal then, is it kicking off?

Edit - oh, just saw your update. Pfft, in a different country - anything goes then!

Gosh I’m shocked at the replies. I would have my phone on loud after 5 but if you called at 7 or even later I wouldn’t care, it’s hardly a big deal and life gets in the way.

I would expect a call between 5 and 5:30pm.
If you had said, I’ll call you this evening because I’m in meetings all day, that would be a different scenario. However, you specifically said after 5 because I’m in meetings until then, therefore I would expect a call shortly after 5.

I called at six
Having raced home, made a cup of tea logged on
This was not a lie for death scenario
Sorry, it is a bit tedious
But now they think they’re going to phone me later which given that they’re in the East Coast of America they can fuck right off

If it’s a work call, I’d expect you to have called by 5:30pm, or messaged to reschedule for the day after. If it’s a personal call, I’d have expected you to say something like “in meetings until 5, will call you this evening”.

If the person you’re calling is in a different time zone, you should be more specific about your timings.

I’d expect you to call shortly after 5- definitely by 5.30.

If someone said they would phone me after a meeting that’s due to finish at 5 I’d expect a phone call anytime until about 5.45. I would think the meeting could over run, they might need the toilet, or go and get a drink before contacting me,

As should they tbf
The initial message said I can take a call after 12
To which I replied with the I’m in meetings until five which correlates with being after 12 their end
I do think they’re being a bit ridiculous, but luckily they need me more than I need them so we’ll see how it goes

You did nothing wrong at all. Obviously if it was a serious call then you would call back quicker but it wasn’t. A lot of meetings over run and I would expect you to get home sort yourself out before calling back. Maybe I’m too laid back 😂