Earlier this week I had a couple of extra children over and, soon after they were dropped off, I noticed that the phone was not on its cradle. I asked around to see if anyone could point me in the right direction. One of the neighbor kids indicated that it was on the stairs. Lily had gotten a hold of it and had, of course, dialed some random combination of numbers that had resulted in a connection. Not realizing that there was still someone on the line, I hung it up, after noticing that it had been off the hook for over four minutes. Shortly thereafter, the phone rang. I let the answering machine pick it up since I was trying to get 5 kids involved in something more constructive than begging me to let them watch a movie. When I finally got a minute, I checked my answering machine to find a message saying something to the effect of, "One of your children just called me. I could hear everything that was going on. I was hoping for an apology because I couldn't use my phone the entire time. You really should keep a better eye on your kids." She left no number, and we have no caller ID, for which I was glad because then I didn't have to feel guilty about not wasting my time and my breath apologizing for a situation that really was laughable.
First of all, when I receive phone calls where there is something unintelligible going on in the background I give it about 5 seconds max before hanging up. And do you know what happens? It's truly miraculous. I can use my phone again!
Second, listening to 4 minutes of someone else's life is way too much for me. I can barely stand reality TV, why would I hang on the line while some anonymous mother shuffles around five kids under 5?
And third, is it really irresponsible to have lost track of a phone receiver for 4 minutes under any circumstances, let alone the ones I had just found myself in?
At first I was perturbed. Then I thought it was pretty darn funny. Finally, I decided that I could turn it into a learning experience and remember to refrain from judging other people based on a limited window into their lives. On top of that, I still find it entertaining.
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3 comments:
This is too funny. Yeah, I don't get why she didn't let it hang up by just hanging up the phone for a minute. Some people are so silly.
oh my gosh that is so rude! i would love it if a toddler called me.
one of my kids did the same thing at a hotel and had a nice long conversation with the front desk lady. we just thought she was playing at talking but there really was someone on the other end. ooops. luckily the front desk lady was much nicer than your callee and thought it was great fun.
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