Are people really this stupid?
I usually screen my calls with an answering machine. I can be a bit a difficult to understand over the phone especially with strangers. This is okay when the caller knows how to listen. The trouble is that most people don't know how to listen. And recent calls have only served to confirm my suspicions that most people who call the house line are idiots.
Over the years I've noticed a great many callers don't have a clue about answering machines. This seems really strange as answering machines are ubiquitous. Many seem to freak out and try to shout the machine down by saying "Hello? Hello?! Hello?!!" the whole time the answering machine is playing its outgoing message. This behavior fascinates me no end as many answering machines seem to not take any message if the caller is talking during the message. This is because the machine sets its noise level filtering during the outbound message. That is to say that these people in talking during the message are causing the noise level threshold to be set to a level louder than they're speaking. (I usually count this as a feature because quite frankly if someone is incapable of waiting for the beep they usually have nothing intelligent to say anyway.)
Now we come to today. I'm making supper and the phone rings. The machine answers and I hear shouting and yelling. It all sounded quite incoherent. I couldn't make out what was being said. Either by they or by the machine. This caller, whoever it is, hung up at the beep. About ten minutes later the phone rings again. The machine picks up and whoever it is managed to stay quiet during the outbound message. Then a male voice says "answering machine" and hangs up.
What is wrong with these people? Are they merely clueless or actually stupid?
Over the years I've noticed a great many callers don't have a clue about answering machines. This seems really strange as answering machines are ubiquitous. Many seem to freak out and try to shout the machine down by saying "Hello? Hello?! Hello?!!" the whole time the answering machine is playing its outgoing message. This behavior fascinates me no end as many answering machines seem to not take any message if the caller is talking during the message. This is because the machine sets its noise level filtering during the outbound message. That is to say that these people in talking during the message are causing the noise level threshold to be set to a level louder than they're speaking. (I usually count this as a feature because quite frankly if someone is incapable of waiting for the beep they usually have nothing intelligent to say anyway.)
Now we come to today. I'm making supper and the phone rings. The machine answers and I hear shouting and yelling. It all sounded quite incoherent. I couldn't make out what was being said. Either by they or by the machine. This caller, whoever it is, hung up at the beep. About ten minutes later the phone rings again. The machine picks up and whoever it is managed to stay quiet during the outbound message. Then a male voice says "answering machine" and hangs up.
What is wrong with these people? Are they merely clueless or actually stupid?