Acceptable times of the day for phone calls

Way too late!


You should think twice before you make a phonecall after 7 PM to people that are not your friends or family.

Ok I must be the only one who has a mixed view…

I personally work ad hoc hours (as can be seen from the times I post!) and am on call 24hrs a day with my current job, I would not be fussed if I had a work related call out of office hours. (But I am paid for this!)

Also my mates have no qualms about calling me whatever the time, I regularly get calls at 5 in the morning by drunken mates, to which I am happy to speak with ( I usually forget what they have said by morning!) However there is a difference between friends, and also mobiles to landlines. I would ring my mates at shit times but I would not call my mom at the same times (not that it would do me any good as she takes her hearing aid out!)

Whilst in Durham I also had my (Music Management) lecturers mobile telephone number, and once after a absinth fuelled night we thought it would be funny to call one up and sing South Parks “Shut your f***ing face uncle f*****�, very funny at the time, wish I had have been a little more sober when I was putting my caller id to ‘not sent’, but hey I was wasted!

I did however remember when he asked to see me after a lesson, when it all came flooding back to me! Out of order maybe, but he did offer me an E the first time we went out for a class trip so he didn’t take it much further!

And on the other hand I was President of the Students Union in Durham, and had to call out the Director of Higher Education at about 04:00 however he did thank me when he arrived as one of the students was suicidal and may have brought the establishment into bad light had they jumped off the roof, I don’t think he would have come out for any other reason! Either that or because they would have landed outside his office, and the smell would have been bad!

You say that the son answered the phone…. Did you get to speak to the guy? And is he going to be pissed with his son for been rude and not letting him decide if he was going to take the call? Or is everyone else here right that the problem could have waited?

If someone called for my mom I would

1) Ask what they wanted and if it was urgent
2) Wake her up and let her decide one if she wanted to talk to them
3) Let her be shitty with the person and give them a mouth full (assuming that the call was irrelevant, and not time sensitive)

I would feel a right idiot if I had said its late and hung up to find that her business had just been shut down my the Inland Revenue, or that one of her employees had been killed and she hadn’t turned out.

Example of a good enough reason to call that late.

Regarding the fielding of calls, I think generally people do get collegaues or family or friends to field calls when one doesn't want to be disturbed. I do it.
The tactic might have been better to let those annoying calls late at night go straight to a voice mail that you can hear and then react to if it is urgent.

Obviously not

Your professor

I am wide awake at 10 pm too, but I don't want my bosses calling me about patients or schedualling issues. I have recieved phone calls at 7 am from one, and asked him if it can wait til I get to the office. We have to call patients to fill scheduals, and believe me we only call between 7:30 am and 8pm, otherwise the patients freak out.
I would not appreciate a phone call at 10pm, maybe what is deemed 'important' to you, is not so important to others.

I do, quite often, in fact I did last night! If you rang me after 10pm about work you'd get an earfull as well!

Who actually calls their professors anyway? I got through a BA and an MSc without ever having to telephone a professor - at any time of the day, never mind at ten at night. All this self-indulgent nonsense about it being "important" - you're an arts student, FFS.

The fact is that Germans go to bed early and get up early. That's why the Mensa opens for lunch at 11am and there's already a queue. So it follows that these people went to bed early the previous evening.

I've had customers call me at home after 10pm (and on weekends, bank holidays, you name it) and they invariably think their reason for calling is so urgent that it's completely justified. I very rarely agree. Worth bearing in mind that what seems vital to you may well be yet another routine annoyance to somebody else. The acid test is whether you honestly believe that they'd be annoyed with you later for not calling. If so, fair enough, that means it's likely to be urgent from their point of view as well as yours. In all other cases, ask yourself how you'll manage if you can't get hold of them... and then do that without bothering them first.

That was a masochist who wanted you to "forget" the right aneasthetic or something right?

I know perfectly well what a Feierabend is thankyou. Why do you assume I can't speak German?

And to all of you - I woke up this morning and asked as many fellow students as I could what their thoughts on this matter were, and they all agreed with me. I told you many times that I felt there were circumstances that justified me calling at that time, and that my objection was the rudeness of the person who answered, ie, the teachers son. A long time student of the teacher concerned told me to forget about the son, as nobody can get on with him at the best of times. Thats all I wanted to know - was it really, in context!!! so late, or was I harshly treated?

I won't be posting here again - the force of the replies from some who couldn't possibly have known the specifics of this very small problem really annoyed me. I've looked around the site, and I think there is an undercurrent of cynicism and sarcasm, as well as remarks of an unnecesarrily condescending nature.

Goodbye Porpoise Spit!

Missing You Already!

[img]http://www.cinecultist.com/archives/fcstil_0044.jpg[/img]

@ warsteiner
You are really going to need to get some thicker skin. You asked for opinions on a public forum.
Just because people didn't give you the answer or support you were looking for, you have thrown all your toys out of the pram.
To be honest, I dont think anyone on here could give a toss if you ever post here again or not. However, if you do, then I would suggest that you are better prepared for some kind of debate.

Agreed. You have a very obstinate streak that grates rather badly. You fail to accept that you maybe made an error of judgement - the fact that your professor was already in bed doesn't seem to be sufficient evidence for you that it was indeed too late. That's quite arrogant. Hopefully you'll find it within yourself to apologise to your professor, when you tell him whatever earth-shattering news it was that made you call in the first place.

Seriously, you couldn't script this stuff. What a brilliant thread.

cynicism & sarcasm - just sounds typically English to me ;-)

Don't take everything so personally. Nobody knows you personally so any comments made were based on what you said. You didn't want to divulge information that would have helped to ascertain how important it really was and it is difficult for anyone to imagine what could have been so urgent that it couldn't have waited. I agree that there is no excuse for absolute rudeness - like you received from the son in question. There are nice ways of saying things..but who knows what happened - perhaps 5 people called before you and he was just really pissed off. Let it go over your head.

Well at least give us a decent flounce

Truly a thread of beauty. Thank you Warsteiner for lifting my day. Not a bad flounce either. I'll give you a 7 out of 10 for that one.

I really would like to know what the call was about. Please come back and tell us. Plllleeeeeaaaaassse.

Toytown Germany
undercurrent of cynicism and sarcasm, as well as remarks of an unnecesarrily condescending nature

Warms the cockles of your heart to read that kind of praise doesn't it.

This chap need some serious lessons in life.

He has the total inability to take criticism, and this will potentially dog the rest of his life.

He has acted like a fucktard. We have all told him he has acted like a fucktard, but he is totally unwilling to accept he is wrong.

He is gonna have a fucking hard life ahead.

p.s. Just as a quick clue in case he ever checks back here. The other professors that you also called after 10pm and did not complain ALSO do think you are
a fucktard - just they were too nice and polite to tell you at the time - but trust me - they were thinking "who is this fucktard student ringing me at this time".

I simply cant believe how people can flounce over the internet like this. I mean you ask a bunch of strangers, you will get replies that you like and those that you dont. Life is like that and with all the anonymity that the internet allows if you still flounce on the smallest hint of criticism...wtf do you do when you face it in real life?!?!

Seriously peeps need to stop growing up ultra PC and with kid-gloves. BooHoo...we are all bad and I am not going to speak to any of you and henceforth will surf this site on anon mode or not logged in so none of you can see me...sheesh! Babies!

I've read your post JE and I think there is an undercurrent of cynicism and sarcasm in it. It's not condescending though.

very small problem, i thought it was an emergency?

nice flounce btw

To make it condescending I suggest using the phrase "Le Tard du Fuck".

I'm considering making some obscene phone-calls - what's the best time of night to do it?

Ba ha ha, Busted!

Le Tard du Fuck indeed.

I read some psychology stuff on this once.

It was related to that case in the USA where a pair of twins murdered their parents and then went and spent the cash etc.

Not sure the correct clinical term, but they reckon the problem is caused by the parents heaping TOO MUCH praise on their kids during their upbringing. The kids
are told they are wonderful, brilliant, perfect, fantastic human beings in everything they do.

Then when they are cast into the outside world, they are not emotionally prepared and cannot accept any criticism or failure.

I am willing to bet that Captain Flounce had overdoting parents.

This is all getting silly.

Totaly impolite to ring anybody after 10pm workwise unless its a live or death matter. Anything else can wait till the next morning. In all probability he woke up the son. If you start work at 7:30am as many do here, you can be asleep at 10pm quiet easily.

This student should open his eyes a bit and understand not all of us get up at noon and go to bed at three in the morning. He should also realise anger is the German default communication tone.

They'll be a mature and reasoned thoughts then
Damn it - someone should really have asked Warsteiner what the specifics of this very small problem were...

I'm almost always in bed by 10:00 p.m.

Not necessarily sleeping but definitely not available to take phone calls.

ERaly to bed OG to rise

damn where are the other girls like you ER, I would like to order a clone please!

No oral communication at all?

Ah bollocks, missed this one completely. Working too much.

Why do you assume I assume that? Remember, other people read this topic as well and not everyone here speaks German that well so I try to respect that. Aside from that, you do not seem to know perfectly well what a Feierabend is, else you would not have called your professor.

Right folks I am off to bed no calling me!!!

Unless it is an emergency! Or you have a Job offer in Munich!

Yes, i do also find it strange that people find it normal to call their professors at home in the evenings or to think that they can have a personal relationship with them. But I know one of my colleagues from overseas will send my boss sms to tell him when he´s arrived at the airport or arrived back...I think he keeps my boss well informed of his personal circumstances, which in my eyes is completely inappropriate. This personal student-professor relationship seems to be more common here in Germany than other places though, or is that just me?

Unless you need to call to tell him the uni burnt down and he doesn't need to come into work the next day, I really don't think anything can be as important that it can't wait till the next morning.

How about text messaging. If he's not asleep he'll pick it up and reply if he sees it necessary - far less invasive than a phone call late in the evening.

Hi. My impression? Sound a bit like you may have breached a culture standard here. Many or even most Germans tend to separate their lives into compartments, work, social, etc. If your professor is alowing you to call him at home he is making the border more vague, but certainly it does seem very late to be calling him. Many Germans still take their 'Sonntagsruhe' very seriously. The son's reaction does indicate that you crossed a cultural border. If it were me I would apologise. Tht is of course up to you.

Not just the Sonntagsruhe - Mittagsruhe as well. I was brought up not to call anyone between 12.00-15.00hrs.

Maybe this is more so in Germany than in Britain, but unless you are very friendly with your work mates, bosses, professors etc, I would not call after 21.00hrs.

SMS-ing is good. Many of my friends are considerate enough SMS me in the morning asking if I'm awake yet. Then I can call back when I am. And calls after 21:00 are a no-no in my book.

Yes, before 1200 on a Saturday or Sunday good friends SMS asking if you are up yet.

I used to go by the rule that after 1900h is not ok...2000h at the max, those were the days before the bloody virtual teams we are all part of when your boss is likely to call you at 4 am for a normal call as he is already at noon, and colleagues call each other without taking into account any time difference...and say nothing of our customers

Man sometimes I wish for the days when we had no handys.

isn't that like asking "can you hear at the back"?

No, I check it when I get up, and then I call. If they don't hear from me, I must be still sleeping. Simple.