Sunday, February 10, 2008

Righteous Anger?

Ok I need some opinions here. What the appropriate cutoff time for business-related calls? I have always felt that calls after 9:00 p.m. should be important and after 10:00 p.m. there had better be a life hanging in the balance. Am I out of line?

I just received a call at 10:05 p.m. and the person acknowledged that it was perhaps late to call - I didn’t contradict her. I concluded the incredibly stupid business that could have waited until morning and hung up. Then she texted me back at 10:20 p.m. on a related and equally stupid issue that could have waited until morning.

After simmering with anger for a few minutes, I responded to her SMS telling her that in the future she should NOT contact me after 10 o’clock unless it was urgent. Was I out of line?

Admittedly, Hubby is out of town and I’m just sitting around watching TV but that’s not the point! I give a lot of time to the Association and I think I am entitled to my evenings.

Now that I’ve vented I need you guys to tell me that I’m right and that this woman was out of line. Maybe if you tell me that she’s a nutter I’ll be able to be nice and edit her unlingual babblings into a coherent message instead of leaving them verbatim and letting her look like an idiot.

Thoughts?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember having to deal with several people who did not respect boundaries Hehe:). I can laugh now. Don't let them get underneath your skin. If you don't establish boundaries and stick to them before you know it, they will be showing up at the door at midnight!!! Screen calls. Especially if you know it is nonsense screen them, that is a good use of an answering machine. I have had some who then act shocked that I do not answer calls from them, and I have told them they have built a reputation for not bothering to respect my boundaries so I answer when I want to. I have found it frees up time and energy to focus on real concerns.

Anonymous said...

There is no cut-off for genuine "life or death" emergencies but they're rare.
If it's something that can genuinely not be remedied until "office hours" then the call is pointless and rudely intrusive into your valued private life.
Tell them this and tell them to keep it to office hours.
Let them squirm!