I posted a “Question of the Day” last week, about telephone etiquette. For whatever reason, my husband decided to do his once or twice yearly quick perusal of my blog (no, he doesn’t read it regularly. He might read it four or five times a year, I’m just being snarky this morning!) and he latched onto that post. He proceeded to tell me that was a great question, and that I should do a follow-up question. Since Tim always has great ideas, I had to ask his follow-up question! 🙂
So, let’s say someone calls your house or cell phone after hours. It might be later at night than you would normally answer the phone, or earlier in the morning. You answer, or you see on caller id it’s someone you know, maybe a family member or friend, so you answer the phone. But — you were asleep! Do you be straightforward and say “hey, I was asleep, you woke me up!” or do you immediately lie and act like you were awake or it was ok or whatever?
Tim is always the “I was awake, it’s fine” kind of answer. Me, I’m not so sweet. It’s not that I want people to feel bad, but I am a girl who loves my sleep. If I’m asleep and the phone wakes me up, I’m usually pretty grumpy. Even if I wasn’t, I’m usually too sleepy to put together cohesive thoughts and fabricate a lie. I won’t jump out and scream “good grief, you woke me up!”, but I will admit it if someone asks. Tim won’t however. It’s funny, though, because people can usually tell. They usually call him on it and say “you WERE asleep, I can tell!”.
So, how about you? If some one calls you while you’re asleep, just to chat or ask a question, not an emergency, do you tell them you were asleep? Do you automatically lie and say “it’s ok, I was awake”. Or do you care?! 🙂
Thanks Tim, for stopping by my blog, reading it and giving me a Question of the Day! I love you, sweetheart! 
I don’t hear the phone when I’m asleep. I sleep really soundly. If someone hands me the phone and wakes me up I usually say, “I was sleeping!” and get off asap to sleep more 🙂
Ummm, I lie about not being asleep. I don’t know why I feel the need to act like I was strolling the house at an ungodly hour but I just do. I know it’s wrong and I really should answer with “Yes, I was sleeping” LOL
It really depends on who’s calling and what the phone call is about. If there’s a problem with a family member, I’ll lie about being asleep. But if it’s someone just to chat, you better believe I’ll tell them I was asleep!
I’m mostly like Tim. If it isn’t 2AM when someone calls, I was ‘awake’. I don’t get called too often, so normally when my phone goes off, it’s relatively important and I just want to cut to the chase.
I usually lie and say I was “awake.” Worse, if I decide to take a nap in the afternoon, I’ll tell the kids to get the phone and don’t tell anyone I’m sleeping. So, I’m teaching my kids to lie, too! I think I need therapy, huh? I mean, everybody sleeps, why do I feel so guilty about getting caught doing it?
I may not hear the phone if I’m really sound asleep. But I don’t necessarily mind being awakened either. I don’t usually say that I was asleep but might say something if they ask me more than once, or say that I was resting. That doesn’t happen here too often I don’t think….Don probably gets waked up by the phone more than I do but we’ve always gotten phone calls at such odd hours that years ago I sorta learned to just roll with it. I wouldn’t want them to feel bad about calling me, they might have really needed something or it might have just been a “god thing” that they called! Sometimes I’m just happy that someone wanted to talk to me! We don’t get nearly as many phone calls as we used to when the kids were here and I enjoy talking on the phone. It might also be easier for me to say this because this doesn’t happen to me too much, if I was getting waked up on a more regular basis I might change my thinking on it!
Oh and…..hooray for Tim reading your blog! Great job!
If they ask me if I was asleep, I would definitely tell them. However, it would be really hard for me to lie about it because my voice when I first wake up is really raspy and it would give me away anyhow. Plus, they might think twice about calling so early the next time!!!
I tell the truth, but I follow it up with “But that’s okay!”
I usually lie but people can tell. I can’t imagine you grumpy, Stacy!
I don’t answer the phone whenever I’m sleeping…we have the ringer off & machine turned down. But if I did, and someone asked, I’d tell the truth…why lie?
Yeah Tim!!! He does need to drop by more often.
You won’t wake me up if I’m sleeping. We have a phone in our room only for outgoing calls (the ringer stays off) and I turn off the ringer on my cell. It’s not usually in my room either though since it makes the clock radio do that weird static thing off & on all night.
I quiz my hubby on what I blogged about each time 🙂
It depends who calls, although most of our friends know I go to bed early and on weekends hubby likes to sleep in. It also depends on my mood.
It’s usually pretty obvious that I was asleep. I sound kind of out of it. I don’t think anyone has ever asked if they woke me, it’s that obvious. They just apologize for waking me, say what they have to say, and let me go. Because of the hours I can actually be found asleep (midnight to six am), most people don’t call unless it’s an emergency anyway. If it’s during my no-call zone (11pm-8am) they always apologize for calling, right up front, and they don’t keep me long. I am pretty lucky about that.
I might say something like “Oh, I was just laying here.” Sometimes I say I was asleep , but I let them know it’s ok. If it’s not someone I know, I don’t answer it.
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