Private numbers

18-04-2021 3:41pm

Wibbs wrote: »

You do seem to see ad hominem with ease. I was just speaking from personal experience.
American research. Which doesn't surprise me, as American culture is notably more paranoid than most in the West, so not a shock they might answer their phones less.

Did you miss the part where I typed: "and I'm not actually busy?" Of course if I'm busy I will let calls go to voicemail. If I'm not, I won't.

Just saying American research doesn’t cut it. You would need to prove that Irish people are radically different.

The “when busy” argument is newish and goalpost shifting. When EmmetSpiceland was suggesting he valued his private time more than some phone calls he was called weird. People have accused millennials of being snowflakes based on no evidence at all. The op was accused of being young and whiny for not answering all calls. You were convinced there are people on the spectrum not answering cold calls or unknown calls because that’s all that could explain it.

But other people’s definition of busy might just be slightly different to yours. Engaging in certain hobbies or taking downtime or whatever. Not just work work. If that’s all the argument is about, then we are all letting calls, known and unknown go to voicemail, aren’t we? So accusations of snowflakery seem a bit over the top.

I’m sticking by my argument that not answering unknown calls is normal, now with added data - not that I needed it, and is as normal as not replying to every single email the minute you get it.

I check junk folders every few days just in case, and listen to all voice mails so I miss nothing. But I don’t answer everything immediately. Which is entirely normal behaviour.

cj maxx · 18-04-2021 3:54pm

I answer the phone, and if it's a ( usually obvious) scam or marketing call i hang up. Simples. Sometimes its a health care professional from a blocked number. No big deal either way.

notsoyoungwan · 18-04-2021 4:13pm

I’m laughing at the “this is what’s wrong with the health service” posts. It’s not the 750 approx unfilled consultant posts, not the hundreds of thousands on waiting lists, not the inadequate number of beds, under-staffing in terms of nurses, NCHDs and AHPs, recruitment and retention problems, no, it’s the fact that some hospitals use a private number and some people don’t answer their phone to private numbers.

YFlyer · 18-04-2021 4:24pm

In the US a person receiving a call on their cell phone is charged as well.

_Kaiser_ · 18-04-2021 4:40pm

In my experience, private numbers are usually banks or utility companies.

I just screen depending on what I'm at and who it is. If I'm busy/don't want to talk (I spend most of the day on calls for work) then I'll let it go to voicemail

More annoying of late are these one-ring calls from a variety of African countries that presumably expect you to call back and cost yourself a fortune. No way of blocking those that I can tell that wouldn't impact the first group as well.

tayto lover · 18-04-2021 4:43pm

I know that some teachers who were phoning students during the school closures were blocking their numbers. They didn’t want teenagers ringing their number at 4am.

10pennymixup · 18-04-2021 4:54pm

Deleted User wrote: »

No I am not on a sucker list penny, because I am not a sucker. I've never been "sucked". Reported for ad hominem.

Do you know what a sucker list is? How in any way is suggesting that you might be on such a list, a personal attack on you.

One aspect of the position you were maintaining was that you were too busy too answer calls from unknown numbers or hidden numbers. Implying that you receive a disproportionate amount of calls of this nature.

Do you know what ad hominem means? If I were to call you an outright weirdo for not answering your phone, that would be good use of the phrase ad hominem.

Another example would be claiming that I as someone that does answer the phone and not rely on impersonal typed communications, is weird.

Maybe I should report you for posts that are ad hominem??:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

KildareP · 18-04-2021 4:55pm

It's not always practical to give every phone extension in a company or organisation it's own direct dial number (01, 021, etc.).

Nor is it always practical - although extremely simple to do from a technical perspective on any modern phone system - to have the main switchboard number appear for all outbound calls from any phone in that organisation. They may not have the resources to dedicate to taking callbacks plus it might not even be possible to know where to direct a callback to.

Hence it's often easiest all round to just mask all outbound calls as private.

However - a much bigger bugbear of mine is the voicemail leaver who doesn't use private number but leaves a voicemail "Hi, it's Jimmy, can you call me back when you get a chance".

Call you back about what? I can see your missed call, so I'll know to call you back... but call you back about what? For a chinwag? Because you're on death's door? Is it urgent? Why bother wasting my and your time with a non-descript voicemail?! :mad:

18-04-2021 4:58pm

Wibbs wrote: »

Of all the people I know the only ones that screen calls to that degree are on the spectrum. And that's grand, they're otherwise cool people, but their attitudes in that particular area are not normal

I'm fully sure this isn't your intention but the emboldene parts read a little offensive to people on the autism spectrum, many of whom don't have typical behaviours, but I wouldn't go so far as to describe as abnormal.

In any case, not answering the phone to all-comers seems to be very typical, and in that sense "normal".

is_that_so · 18-04-2021 5:02pm

I like answering the phone. I say hello and they mostly just hang up. Occasionally I get Brian Murphy in his thick Mumbai accent!

beauf · 18-04-2021 5:09pm

notsoyoungwan wrote: »

I’m laughing at the “this is what’s wrong with the health service” posts. It’s not the 750 approx unfilled consultant posts, not the hundreds of thousands on waiting lists, not the inadequate number of beds, under-staffing in terms of nurses, NCHDs and AHPs, recruitment and retention problems, no, it’s the fact that some hospitals use a private number and some people don’t answer their phone to private numbers.

It's a thread about private numbers. Not about the HSE maybe that's why.

But how an organisation struggles to deal with simple problems is often a reflection on the organisation as a whole.

beauf · 18-04-2021 5:15pm

KildareP wrote: »

...Hence it's often easiest all round to just mask all outbound calls as private.
...

Fair enough.. but it's an approach with a lot of cons for the recipients.

Victor · 18-04-2021 5:22pm

volchitsa wrote: »

It’s a filtering strategy, so that the direct number doesn’t come up otherwise people could call the person they want directly instead of having to go via the secretary or the switchboard.

There’s no way anyone’s going to “fix” it unless the system allows you to call from one number while showing another on the screen.

The doctor's phone line needs to display the phone line of their secretary. This should solve the problem of people phoning the doctor directly and potentially distracting them / wasting their time when they are in the middle of something.

notsoyoungwan wrote: »

I’m not going on a one-woman crusade to get the hospital phone infrastructure changed.

You complain of a problem that is wasting your time, but won't fix it?

It isn't an infrastructure issue, it's a settings issue.

Wibbs · 18-04-2021 6:46pm

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I'm fully sure this isn't your intention but the emboldene parts read a little offensive to people on the autism spectrum, many of whom don't have typical behaviours, but I wouldn't go so far as to describe as abnormal.

Neurotypical, the majority = normal, non-neurotypical, a minority = not normal. Doesn't mean it's bad, it's just not the background norm.

Lmkrnr · 18-04-2021 6:59pm

Nobody ever ring's to say here's something free for you, or you won this, or would you like that.

Fandymo · 18-04-2021 7:58pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

No you are not normal unless normal is redefined as 20% of the population, which is a mathematical absurdity. Also your spectrum comments seem to be a generalised ad hom against the people not taking your position, not too distinct from a playground taunt.

This is from Pew research, and is later than the last one I posted..

Americans just aren’t picking up the phone much anymore. Eight-in-ten Americans say they don’t generally answer their cellphone when an unknown number calls, according to newly released findings from a Pew Research Center web survey of U.S. adults conducted July 13-19, 2020.

Only 19% of Americans generally pick up cellphone calls from unknown numbers; women, White adults, older adults, higher-income adults less likely to do so

And...

And though much has been made of younger adults’ distaste for phone conversations, the survey finds that Americans ages 18 to 29 are more likely to take calls from unknown numbers than those in older age groups.

So all the nonsense here about the young is just that. We can discount the "spectrum" argument anyway, the people I have known to ignore most calls when busy, be they from identified or unidentified sources are businessmen.

This is not America. Thank god.

Wallet Inspector · 18-04-2021 8:10pm

Always found the upset over private numbers to be absolutely bizarre.

eleventh · 18-04-2021 8:50pm

notsoyoungwan wrote: »

Absolutely. It’s not that difficult to just hang up if it turns out to be a scammer, cold-caller etc.

cj maxx wrote: »

I answer the phone, and if it's a ( usually obvious) scam or marketing call i hang up. Simples. Sometimes its a health care professional from a blocked number. No big deal either way.

If you answer at all they're more likely to call again at a later date.

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

...
More annoying of late are these one-ring calls from a variety of African countries that presumably expect you to call back and cost yourself a fortune. No way of blocking those that I can tell that wouldn't impact the first group as well.

I was reading somewhere you can get an app that blocks by country. I bookmarked it for future use as I used to get those calls a lot.

cdeb · 18-04-2021 8:59pm

You wonder is there a way a mobile network could display the phone number and the organisation associated with it? All an office's landline numbers are all linked with the one account anyway (presumably), so your phone could display "Incoming call 01-1234567 [Boards.ie]" or something like that.

It would make it much easier to scan calls. Could be optional from the corp's viewpoint, but in theory the spam callers would be the ones more likely not to sign up, and be identifiable that way.

Minier81 · 18-04-2021 9:08pm

cdeb wrote: »

You wonder is there a way a mobile network could display the phone number and the organisation associated with it? All an office's landline numbers are all linked with the one account anyway (presumably), so your phone could display "Incoming call 01-1234567 [Boards.ie]" or something like that.

It would make it much easier to scan calls. Could be optional from the corp's viewpoint, but in theory the spam callers would be the ones more likely not to sign up, and be identifiable that way.

My Samsung phone does this. It doesn't identify every number but does identify a good chunck of them (of landlines anyway).

muddypaws · 18-04-2021 9:58pm

I work as a courier driver, customers get a message in the morning with a delivery window. The amount of them that don't answer their phone around this window is ridiculously high. If you know that someone is delivering something that you want, why would you not answer the phone? The vast majority of people don't check their voice messages so I text them, and usually get a phone call back very quickly, so it's not that they can't answer, but they choose not to.

Wallet Inspector · 18-04-2021 10:09pm

Ubbquittious wrote: »

What are people afraid of if they answer a private number? That an arm with a clenched fist will shoot out from the handset and punch them in the gob? You can always hang up on them if you don't want to talk to them

Exactly. It's pitiful. How do they cope with real adversities?

Wallet Inspector · 18-04-2021 10:11pm

muddypaws wrote: »

I work as a courier driver, customers get a message in the morning with a delivery window. The amount of them that don't answer their phone around this window is ridiculously high. If you know that someone is delivering something that you want, why would you not answer the phone? The vast majority of people don't check their voice messages so I text them, and usually get a phone call back very quickly, so it's not that they can't answer, but they choose not to.

A job I had - "waaaaah ye never phoned me back!"

"We did - check your missed calls."

"Only missed calls are from blocked numbers and I don't answer them."

Obnoxious. As if the world is only about them.

EmmetSpiceland · 18-04-2021 10:22pm

muddypaws wrote: »

I work as a courier driver, customers get a message in the morning with a delivery window. The amount of them that don't answer their phone around this window is ridiculously high. If you know that someone is delivering something that you want, why would you not answer the phone? The vast majority of people don't check their voice messages so I text them, and usually get a phone call back very quickly, so it's not that they can't answer, but they choose not to.

The last delivery I got there was a text sent to me saying it would be delivered between 10am and 11am.

This text was received 10 minutes past 10am and the doorbell rang with the delivery a couple of minutes after the text. None of that mattered, or bothered me, I answered the door once I checked, through the Ring doorbell, that it wasn’t a “time waster”.

I’ve no problem answering the phone to a “hidden” number, or one I don’t recognise, if I’m expecting a call but not a chance if I’m not.

byhookorbycrook · 18-04-2021 10:23pm

muddypaws wrote: »

I work as a courier driver, customers get a message in the morning with a delivery window. The amount of them that don't answer their phone around this window is ridiculously high. If you know that someone is delivering something that you want, why would you not answer the phone? The vast majority of people don't check their voice messages so I text them, and usually get a phone call back very quickly, so it's not that they can't answer, but they choose not to.

Oooh, so if I’m in class , I’m expected to a) have my phone on and b) answer it ?
I include delivery options in most of my purchases . Why do you have to message and then ring in a very narrow time frame ?
If I’m trying to arrange something with a parent , I give them proper notice .

Wallet Inspector · 18-04-2021 10:27pm

Not a chance?

Because... what would happen?

I'm just wondering what the fear is over?

muddypaws · 18-04-2021 10:40pm

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Oooh, so if I’m in class , I’m expected to a) have my phone on and b) answer it ?
I include delivery options in most of my purchases . Why do you have to message and then ring in a very narrow time frame ?
If I’m trying to arrange something with a parent , I give them proper notice .

If you re-read what I posted, the majority phone me almost immediately, so they have chosen not to answer, it's not that they can't. Of course I understand that sometimes people cannot answer their phone, this thread is about people not answering private numbers and has diverged to include unknown numbers.

Good luck with the delivery options, customers usually give the company that they are buying from all of the information, eircode etc but so many companies don't put that information on packages. A well known electrical ompany with a .ie website but UK distribution centre use a generic eircode for all Irish deliveries, one that doesn't actually resemble any actual eircode.

Some deliveries will say "may be left with a neighbour or in a safe place". So we're supposed to know which neighbour you trust?

Strumms · 18-04-2021 10:47pm

Wallet Inspector wrote: »

Always found the upset over private numbers to be absolutely bizarre.

What’s more bizarre would be why somebody making a legitimate phone call and effort to contact you, would make an effort not to allow you to know what number they are calling from.

km991148 · 19-04-2021 12:24am

notsoyoungwan wrote: »

If it’s a cold call selling you something, just hang up. Then you’re not left wondering if you missed the actual call you have been waiting on.

If I was waiting on a call I would answer. For some others I guess the problem is they are either so used to ignoring them or they auto send private numbers to ignore. Presumably if waiting on news from a hospital then their minds are elsewhere and don't think to disable that feature.

My point was regarding people being "afraid" - which I think is nonsense, generally people just can't be arsed dealing with sales - even if that's to listen for a few seconds and hang up.

Regarding the hospital situation, if I had to put up with people not answering private calls, I would probably raise it as a suggestion that the hospital should be as accessible as possibly and now show private when calling people. But that's just me.

km991148 · 19-04-2021 12:28am

Wallet Inspector wrote: »

Exactly. It's pitiful. How do they cope with real adversities?

lol - I dont get this "afraid" or scared attitude.

I simply cannot be arsed dealing with randomers or sales - which 99% of the time a private caller is. If its important to me and not to help some wanker meet a sales target then they we will no doubt speak.

Where is the fear?

Leg End Reject · 19-04-2021 12:29am

Answer the phone, if it's an unwanted caller hang up and get on with your life. No one will die.

Wallet Inspector · 19-04-2021 12:48am

km991148 wrote: »

lol - I dont get this "afraid" or scared attitude.

I simply cannot be arsed dealing with randomers or sales - which 99% of the time a private caller is. If its important to me and not to help some wanker meet a sales target then they we will no doubt speak.

Where is the fear?

Is everyone who's just doing their job a wanker?

Anyway you may not be angry, scared or upset about calls coming from blocked numbers but others are.

Posy · 19-04-2021 1:06am

What's the difference between a number showing as "private" or "unknown" or getting a call from 01-41110986 or 087-11677453? It's still not a number you might recognise straight away.
Are people generally more likely to answer the latter?

km991148 · 19-04-2021 1:20am

Wallet Inspector wrote: »

Is everyone who's just doing their job a wanker?

Anyway you may not be angry, scared or upset about calls coming from blocked numbers but others are.

Of course not - probably most of them aren't! but I still don't care enough to talk to them... And I don't see what wrong with that?

km991148 · 19-04-2021 1:21am

Posy wrote: »

What's the difference between a number showing as "private" or "unknown" or getting a call from 01-41110986 or 087-11677453? It's still not a number you might recognise straight away.
Are people generally more likely to answer the latter?

No, but more likely to search it and find out after if it's worth calling back.

km991148 · 19-04-2021 1:23am

Leg End Reject wrote: »

Answer the phone, if it's an unwanted caller hang up and get on with your life. No one will die.

Or just ignore it and get on with even more of your life.

Still unlikely that someone will die as a result.

Leg End Reject · 19-04-2021 1:24am

km991148 wrote: »

Or just ignore it and get on with even more of your life.

Still unlikely that someone will die as a result.

It is, but it might have been a call worth taking. More to lose than gain.

km991148 · 19-04-2021 1:28am

Leg End Reject wrote: »

It is, but it might have been a call worth taking. More to lose than gain.

That's the thing, depends on the person really.

No good has ever came from answering a private number (for me and a lot of people). One person said they got 300 quid once.

If it's important they will get me.

beauf · 19-04-2021 1:35am

cdeb wrote: »

You wonder is there a way a mobile network could display the phone number and the organisation associated with it? All an office's landline numbers are all linked with the one account anyway (presumably), so your phone could display "Incoming call 01-1234567 [Boards.ie]" or something like that.

It would make it much easier to scan calls. Could be optional from the corp's viewpoint, but in theory the spam callers would be the ones more likely not to sign up, and be identifiable that way.

There are apps that do this also. Simpler Dialer is one. I like the app but have this feature turned off. It's similar in how WhatsApp shows you who people are.

Wallet Inspector · 19-04-2021 2:04am

km991148 wrote: »

Of course not - probably most of them aren't! but I still don't care enough to talk to them... And I don't see what wrong with that?

I'm not referring to that - they're usually cold calls (although I still always answer, and just hang up if it's a cold call). What I mean is the people who take it so personally that the number is blocked.

km991148 · 19-04-2021 7:55am

Wallet Inspector wrote: »

I'm not referring to that - they're usually cold calls (although I still always answer, and just hang up if it's a cold call). What I mean is the people who take it so personally that the number is blocked.

Ye fair enough.. do people tho? I mean take it so personally? Especially now? Even the opening post of this thread was tounge in cheek, surely?

It's an interesting phenomenon these days and another example of our usage of technology shaping behaviour.

The overuse of withheld numbers by cold calling companies and the rise of messenger apps.

Someone already pointed out the reluctance of the younger generation to make an office phone call.

Not that long ago mobile phone networks were trying to ban apps that were used for communications (i.e all voice and chat apps).

19-04-2021 10:17am

Leg End Reject wrote: »

Answer the phone, if it's an unwanted caller hang up and get on with your life. No one will die.

Don’t answer the phone if it’s an unknown caller*. They can leave a message. Get on with your life. No one will die.

This is what normal people do.

I wonder why the consensus skews to the other direction here.

* unless you are expecting a randomer to call like a delivery man.

19-04-2021 10:19am

Wallet Inspector wrote: »

It's usually out of the caller's control. No, definitely more bizarre that a phone number being blocked causes such fear, anger and upset to adults.

It doesn’t cause any fear. Ffs. The utter nonsense from people on this thread. Are you all cold callers?

Wallet Inspector · 19-04-2021 10:20am

Deleted User wrote: »

I wonder why the consensus skews to the other direction here

Bunch of easily terrified/socially awkward folk more likely to congregate on forums.

Wallet Inspector · 19-04-2021 10:24am

Deleted User wrote: »

It doesn’t cause any fear. Ffs. The utter nonsense from people on this thread. Are you all cold callers?

Never been, thank God.

I've just always found it bizarre how angry people get over it.

I don't mean "I don't bother answering as it's probably a cold caller" but people who get offended by it. And they do. I have dealt with customers who have said when I told them their callback would be from a blocked number, they've responded with "Well I don't answer blocked numbers".

19-04-2021 10:25am

Wallet Inspector wrote: »

Bunch of easily terrified/socially awkward folk more likely to congregate on forums.

That’s what I was arguing against. The people on here who say you should answer all calls are the odd ones. It’s probably some kind of OCD. Or the kind of businessman who calls from a blocked number.

19-04-2021 10:27am

Wallet Inspector wrote: »

Never been, thank God.

I've just always found it bizarre how angry people get over it.

I don't mean "I don't bother answering as it's probably a cold caller" but people who get offended by it. And they do. I have dealt with customers who have said when I told them their callback would be from a blocked number, they've responded with "Well I don't answer blocked numbers".

The people getting offended are people like you. You’ve just said people who don’t answer are timid and scared. It’s totally normal. I’ve posted two links on that.

Get rid of the blocked numbers.

tjhook · 19-04-2021 12:56pm

I generally answer calls whether the number is private displayed, or displayed but unknown to me - depending on what I'm doing at the time.

Having said that, I can understand the contrary viewpoint. An incoming phone call of any description is an immediate demand on your time. Before mobile phones, you were uncontactable any time you left your home/office. There's a mental freedom in that, especially when there was no alternative to that unavailability, no guilt that we should have brought the mobile phone.

Since the dawn of mobile phones, we (at least those of us with the infernal devices

) are contactable at all times, by anybody. I can see how a person might yearn for more control over their time.

If I get to the point that it's an issue for me, I'll probably be judicious about it. I'd configure my phone so my contacts are in groups ("Work", "family", "friends", etc), and set up profiles ("At home relaxing", "working", "out and about") using software like Tasker. Profiles can be automatically triggered based on my location, the time, day of the week, etc, and allow/disallow incoming calls from each group, or from unknown/invisible numbers.

Having said that, whatever approach we take is our own decision and we have to live with the consequences of that. Private numbers are often the default (e.g. for unlisted numbers) and are sometimes the only option (for people in particular organisations or roles).

Raging against private numbers won't achieve much. Personally I dislike those "read receipts" people send on emails, and I never allow one to be returned. But I accept that the technology allows for them, and that not returning one may have consequences (such a follow-up email or phone call). It's about personal responsibility!

Antares35 · 19-04-2021 1:01pm

steinbock123 wrote: »

I’m highly amused at people complaining about private numbers.
I’m old enough to have lived at a time when mobile phones weren’t even thought of, never mind invented, and back then , when the phone rang , you just answered it, obviously as someone was calling you.
Why it’s deemed necessary to know who’s calling in advance before you answer these days is beyond me. I get that it’s a neat feature to see who’s calling, but private number coming up would never stop me answering the phone.

I suppose those times were also when there weren't a million scam artists out there pretending to be the bank, revenue etc. Or the more innocuous but equally annoying cold callers.

The most annoying ones are where they call and ask you to confirm who you are - you called me, you should know who I am!

eleventh · 19-04-2021 1:19pm

The only ones I know who answer every call immediately don't know how to use the phone settings. Everyone else answers when available. It's obviously not like the old days where if you don't get to the phone on time, you wonder who it was. I remember as a teen I'd run down the stairs, stop what I was doing if I thought it was for me. If someone rings now and doesn't leave a message, the call wasn't important, it's that simple.

As to private numbers, I wouldn't answer unless there's a delivery or something I'm expecting where it's unlikely to be anyone else.

If the person doesn't think enough of you to leave a voicemail, or text if VM not possible, why would you waste your time.

Private numbers

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