It is not good manners to stop a person on the street or in a shop, or in the performance of any duty and to talk to him for ten, fifteen or twenty minutes just to pass the time of day. We can tell that a person is in a hurry to get somewhere, or he is doing something, and we know enough not to interrupt him for any length of time. Yet some of us think nothing of calling someone on the telephone, interrupting him without a thought about what he may be doing, and chattering away forgetting about time or anything else. Perhaps we don’t consider our telephone conversation an interruption because we don’t see what we have interrupted. Naturally we most observe the common courtesies over the telephone. But we must remember that one of the courtesies of telephoning is to be brief.
Never ask anybody to guess who you are. The person you are telephoning may not be in a guessing mood. If you know him, you may want to ask after the state of his health and that of his family, but as soon as you possibly can, do get on with your business. He certainly wants to know why you are telephoning him. When you are finished with your business, you might take a tesies of conversation, expressing your thanks before ending your call.
From the way the telephones used in your home, you would hardly suspect that this is an instrument on which very important business transactions are conducted. There are times when even you are called upon to be business-like, brief, and effective on the telephone.
Which of the following statements is true?
We know enough not to interrupt someone
We don't know enough to interrupt someone
We can interrupt anyone on the telephone
We can interrupt anyone on the telephone
B.
We don't know enough to interrupt someone
