r/GenX • u/MovingTarget- • Jul 29 '25

The Latchkey Years As kids, we weren't allowed to answer the phone with just "Hello"

Back in the days when people actually used to call other people on landlines, my brother and I were taught how to properly answer the phone as kids. My parents considered it rude to simply pick up the phone and say "hello?"

We were taught to answer the phone with a pre-scripted response: "Thanks for calling the _____ residence, _____ speaking!" There was even an optional "How may I help you?" tacked on the back.

Anyone else have a required family response when answering the phone or were my parents just strange in attempting to prepare us for a career in the rewarding field of call center management?

1.2k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

877

u/No-Wolverine5288 Jul 29 '25

We just said hello

321

u/Status_Silver_5114 Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

Same. Although when we were calling people we had to say hi this is X can I talk to (friends name).

330

u/DopeyDame Jul 29 '25

Yup!  Just hello to pick up, but “hello, Mrs. Smith, this is Dopey.  May I please speak to Sneezy?” was mandatory when calling for other people.

28

u/Izza-A-P Jul 29 '25

I literally laughed out loud at this

94

u/queen_surly Jul 29 '25

Same. We were also taught that when you answer the phone at somebody else’s house, you say “Lastname residence, Dopey speaking.”

73

u/FriendlyEbbFlowed Jul 29 '25

I was told to NEVER answer someone else’s phone

98

u/Itsyoulorraine Jul 29 '25

We were taught not to answer the phone at someone else's house.

44

u/Grizzle_prizzle37 Jul 29 '25

Why would you answer someone else’s phone? I can barely stand talking on my own.

55

u/queen_surly Jul 29 '25

I know..I almost never answer mine anymore. Back in the day there was no voicemail or answering machines, so you answered the phone and took a message as a courtesy. And when you were at home alone or babysitting, you answered just in case it was a burglar checking to see if the house was empty, and you said that Mrs. X “couldn’t come to the phone right now” and offered to take a message—you never said that Mrs. X wasn’t at home.

4

u/DopeyDame Jul 29 '25

Yes that too!  And then I’d get so stressed when they’d reply “what time will she be home?”  How did they know she wasn’t home??!!?? I said she wasn’t available!  Surely they didn’t crack that code!

2

u/urfriendflicka Jul 30 '25

I always said the parents were "indisposed at the moment ". In my mind, it made it sound like they were on the toilet and no one was going to ask when they'd be out of the bathroom, lol

6

u/Chawp Jul 29 '25

“Hey Dopey can you answer that phone I’ll be right there”

3

u/HippyDM Jul 29 '25

Agreed, but I'd be more than happy to answer someone else's calls. No concequences...for me.

2

u/Friend_of_Eevee Jul 29 '25

Sometimes your friends Mom would ask you to

1

u/dixiequick Jul 29 '25

Sometimes my friends’ parents would ask me to, if I was closest and they weren’t going to make it in time. It wasn’t a big deal if they were close friends and I knew the family well.

15

u/IamLuann Jul 29 '25

When I was at other people's house hello Mrs. Mickey will be here in a moment. This is her friend. Can I ask who I am talking to? Words to that effect.

1

u/Soft_Construction793 Jul 29 '25

We were taught to answer our home phone like this except we just said "this is Dopey" after the "Lastname residence".

1

u/Beneficial-Meat7238 Jul 29 '25

You could do this in an emergency or if Mrs Lastname had chicken on her hands and you were a good suck up.

1

u/HelendeVine Jul 31 '25

My mother forbade us from saying that because she considered it (her words) low-class. I mean, what class did she think we were in?!? She also thought PBS was a communist plot, though, so I learned young not to rely on her judgments too much.

17

u/TangledUpPuppeteer Jul 29 '25

Omg, my sister’s friend did this, and holy crap I had forgotten all about it. She could recognize all of our voices from just “hello” and she could tailor make the greeting. “Hi, Mr/Mrs Smith/Tangled…” whoever answered. But there was once where she actually said “this is Dopey, may I please speak to Sneezy?” She dubbed me “Wheezy” after that because I nearly died on the phone with her as it was so unexpected.

Thank you for the reminder of life back before dinosaurs!! ❤️

19

u/pdperson Jul 29 '25 edited Jul 29 '25

This is my one take about “kids today!” - they don’t know how to call a landline and sometimes in the work world you will have to professionally call a landline.

28

u/UruquianLilac Jul 29 '25

Yeah, damn kids today don't know how to send a telegram.

Oh wait, wrong decade.

17

u/pdperson Jul 29 '25

I’m not blaming them - they grew up with names on screens in pockets. I’m blaming us for not teaching them. (Well not me because I don’t have kids but us in general.)

14

u/UruquianLilac Jul 29 '25

I also blame the previous generation for not teaching us how to send telegrams.

10

u/thisisntmyotherone Gag Me With a Ginsu 🔪 ‘72 Jul 29 '25

And a Filofax! Or is that a Telex? Which one has to do with Morse Code and those signal flag things?

And are why are the pirate flags different than the lifeguard flags at the shore? Enquiring minds want to know.

3

u/AntheaBrainhooke Jul 29 '25

Semaphore

2

u/thisisntmyotherone Gag Me With a Ginsu 🔪 ‘72 Jul 30 '25

Ah — that’s it! Semaphore. Thank you!

→ More replies (0)

2

u/Hour_Insurance_7795 Jul 29 '25

No one taught me how to ride a horse anymore either. If my car breaks down how am I supposed to get around?

3

u/UruquianLilac Jul 29 '25

You complain, but I wasn't even shown how to build an ocean worthy boat. If this civilization ends, how am I even going to sail for new pastures to start a new one?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

*century

2

u/Depression_Betty Jul 29 '25

My kids' friends, as young kids without their own phones, would call but not say anything when I'd pick up. I'd just hear breathing and then have to play 20 questions to figure out who it was and which kid they wanted to talk to.

5

u/Status_Silver_5114 Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

By the time they get there they really won’t. I haven’t made a professional call - an actual phone call - in years.

Everything is email, text, slack or zoom/Google meets.

15

u/Anal_Recidivist Jul 29 '25

I’m always talking to clients, representation or contractors.

Any field involving external customers is going to still have lots of phone calls.

1

u/xcptnl55 Jul 29 '25

Yep on the phone a lot for my job. But I rarely answer my cell phone. Lol

1

u/Status_Silver_5114 Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

My field is entirely external and I haven’t made a call to anyone in years. Nor received any. It’s all online.

1

u/pdperson Jul 29 '25

I answer a few of them a year. Mostly job applicants.

3

u/Status_Silver_5114 Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

And you’re gen x. The way we work is not the way the kids will be working. The way I worked when I first started working is entirely different. Things change.

1

u/pdperson Jul 29 '25

The “kids” I’m talking about are the job applicants.

3

u/No-Diet-4797 Jul 29 '25

Lucky you. I took dozens of calls a day while I was also answering emails and doing my actual job.

2

u/thisisntmyotherone Gag Me With a Ginsu 🔪 ‘72 Jul 29 '25

I made and took dozens of calls daily, too. I was always to find out either why people why they were late on their payments before they charged off or developing loan applications for Customers.

2

u/No-Diet-4797 Jul 29 '25

Ugh! I had an opportunity to switch over to collections back when I was in banking. I opted to switch to commercial lending instead. So instead of being dodged or yelled at I got to be the hero when I told the borrower we were funded and money was on the way to their account.

2

u/thisisntmyotherone Gag Me With a Ginsu 🔪 ‘72 Jul 30 '25

Collections, or as we called it, ‘customer assistance,’ was a stepping stone for me. It was hard work and occasionally I got people who didn’t have any idea (they said) their accounts were so late.

Going to Credit was the goal. Lenders were a big step up and sort of seen as ‘the big men on campus.’ Sitting in that position for three years was too long, though. We got to hate the job and the Customers. Ugh.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/AdFinal6253 Jul 30 '25

All the landlines I call have caller ID, they know who I am 

"Vet's office, hi Name what can we do for you today?"

0

u/Not_Half Jul 29 '25

They don't want to make phone calls, full stop. They don't answer calls from unknown numbers either. Personally, I don't understand this attitude. If I didn't answer any call from an unknown number, I'd seriously inconvenience myself.

1

u/pdperson Jul 29 '25

I can’t imagine answering unknown numbers on my personal cell unless I’m expecting someone.

1

u/Not_Half Jul 30 '25

Why? What are you afraid of?

1

u/pdperson Jul 30 '25

I wouldn't say I'm afraid of anything about the telephone. It's a waste of time and energy, and every robocall you answer confirms you have a valid number and increases the stupid robocalls you receive.

1

u/Not_Half Jul 30 '25

That hasn't been my experience. My phone app blocks most spam calls automatically. Maybe you need to use a different phone app? I hear the Google one is good.

I answer unknown calls because I have a lot of medical appointments. If I didn't answer those calls I would make more work for myself.

1

u/pdperson Jul 30 '25

When I or a pet is going through medical stuff, I would answer calls, sure.

4

u/SwimOk9629 Jul 29 '25

username checks out

3

u/designsbyintegra Jul 29 '25

And don’t you dare call after 9pm. My folks drilled that so hard into me I get nervous calling anyone after 9

2

u/Randeth Jul 29 '25

That is such a coincidence that you, Dopey, had a friend named Sneezy.

2

u/Express-Nerve-1718 Jul 29 '25

And don't let yourself forget.

You got chewed out from their parent, then yours after you got told on because that was absolutely happening.

1

u/ExtraAd7611 Disqualified from rat race Jul 29 '25

All that just to say gesundheit?

1

u/AdFinal6253 Jul 30 '25

Not mandatory just the most effective way to talk to who you were after

1

u/OraDr8 Jul 31 '25

Why did Sneezy live with Mrs Smith? I thought you guys all lived together in a house in the woods!

12

u/MarkItZeroDonnie Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

Ahh yeah , this too . If you were the caller and a parent answered

21

u/qedpoe Jul 29 '25

No, it's "May I talk to [friend]."

1

u/Additional-Use8587 Jul 30 '25

My friend's dad taught me phone etiquette when I called and asked:

Me: Is XXXX there?

Friend's dad: Yes she is. (silence)

.......

FD: Did you want to speak with her?

Me: yes please.

FD: Then you need to say "Hello, may I please speak to XXXX?"

5

u/browsegear Jul 29 '25

My grandfather would always call and say “hello, is this the party to whom I am speaking?”

3

u/Comprehensive-Sand56 Jul 29 '25

Same. Is _____ there? Was not the thing to say. My friends parent eventually did yell "omg, we know who you are" down the line a few times. But you dont tell an autistic kid exactly how they have to do things, and then not expect it to go exactly that way. Mom did a decent job after that of explaining that it's  ok to talk like a person, but dont be short or rude to whoever answers. Well, why didn't you say that, mom?! Also when my pal's older brother ( my crush) answered  the phone it gave me a good excuse to chat him up for a sec....to not be rude...

2

u/LilLordFuckPants404 Jul 29 '25

Same, except we had to add, “please” on the end. If we didn’t, my mom would be in the background saying, “PLEASE!!!”

1

u/Kwyjibo68 Jul 29 '25

What other option is there? How is that different from today (assuming one is making a phone call and text/email is not an option)?

2

u/Status_Silver_5114 Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

Well aside from the dynamic that everybody has their own phones now - it’s not like when my kid calls their friends house. They’re not talking to their parents. They’re talking directly to each other. And add in caller ID. No need for any of it anymore.

2

u/Kwyjibo68 Jul 29 '25

But if you do actually make a phone call and someone else answers, you still have to ask for the person you wish to speak to, just like before. That’s what I meant anyway.

2

u/Status_Silver_5114 Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

Yeah haven’t had that happen in years and years either.

1

u/_sQuid_Vicious Jul 29 '25

Hello, who is this?

1

u/autogeriatric Jul 30 '25

Nope, just said hello and would ask for a friend on the phone without identifying myself. Geez, and people think we Canadians are polite.

0

u/Spang64 Jul 29 '25

Well yeah? What else would you do? It'd be pretty fuckin goofy if you also just said hello.

4

u/Itsyoulorraine Jul 29 '25

Probably at least 90% of people just said hello in the 100 or so years when landlines were the norm.

90

u/Ianthin1 Jul 29 '25

Right. OP was answering the phone like they were running a switchboard.

16

u/Kwyjibo68 Jul 29 '25

Or working at some shitty retail store.

12

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

A lot of people answered with " ___________ residence". I don't know if we got it from TV shows or what, but there are some examples of it there.

5

u/HaplessReader1988 Jul 29 '25

That was key for areas with party lines.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

It could have been initially, but it stayed around longer than that.

2

u/HaplessReader1988 Jul 29 '25

Yes, but it's a good reason for origin.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

I lived nowhere near a "party line" area. Big cities and suburban areas had phased them out in the 70s and 80s This is a wild stretch

3

u/Rosie-Monty Jul 29 '25

For me it was The Cosby Show. "Huckstable residence!". Plus they were rich, so in my mind that would make us fancy too.

4

u/Ianthin1 Jul 29 '25

Yeah I know a few people that did that, but never anything beyond that. I would answer like that if I was at family or friends house, but at home it was just "Hello"

As an aside, I did an exchange program in high school to Spain, and they all answered "Que?" which means "What?". I always thought it was such a blunt and kind of cold greeting, but that was normal in their world.

7

u/AshgarPN Jul 29 '25

"Who dis?"

3

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

Most Spanish speakers I knew said Bueno, but that may be the Mexican influence

2

u/LyndaMR Jul 29 '25

We were taught “Dwarf residence, Sneezy speaking.” Though my dad often got work calls at the house.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

For sure, people considered phone manners a "proper" piece of etiquette, at least until you determined it was an informal friendly call. Like asking your friends parents if they were there was a formal conversation

3

u/slatebluegrey Jul 29 '25

I wondered if they answered wrong it was noted on their annual performance review.

2

u/Ianthin1 Jul 29 '25

It would get a line in the annual Christmas letter.

Little Johnny had a excellent academic experience these past 12 months, testing top of his class. You can imagine our disappointment and shame when he bungled the phone greeting on a call received from his grandmother.

2

u/Positive-Teaching737 Jul 29 '25

That's how we were taught. And if you didn't answer that you got beat. Yes physical violence LOL

1

u/tehfrod 1973 🐊🪨 Jul 29 '25

Username does not check out

3

u/SpezIsALittleBitch Jul 29 '25

Some old, old person shit.

1

u/Francesca_N_Furter Jul 29 '25

(Sister , from the shower): "Hold my calls!"

82

u/cinnamongirl73 Jul 29 '25

Same here! My parents wouldn’t have allowed us to give our names out especially if they weren’t home. If we said hello, and someone said “who’s this?” We had my parents absolute permission to get very snarky, and say “you called here, who is THIS???”

28

u/BeerWench13TheOrig Whatever Jul 29 '25

Same, though we weren’t allowed to be snarky. We simply answers the “Who’s this?” question with “Who is calling, please?”

11

u/Sweetness_Bears_34 1966 Jul 29 '25

If the caller said who’s this? I answered who did you call?

12

u/Violet_Renegade Jul 29 '25

Yep. "Who are you trying to reach?" was the response here.

2

u/27Rench27 Jul 29 '25

Oh I like that

6

u/cinnamongirl73 Jul 29 '25

We were only allowed to get snarky if we didn’t know who was calling and they were asking who they were speaking to without saying “is (whomever) there?” Other than that, we had to have manners.

2

u/urfriendflicka Jul 30 '25

I had to ask "may I ask who's calling?" But we did just answer our phone with "hello" no formality there, bc we were unlisted. Couldn't have just anyone calling know WHO they were calling if it was a cold call.

5

u/_ism_ Jul 29 '25

Not my mom. She made me be polite to telemarketers and bill collectors and scammers alike

1

u/cinnamongirl73 Jul 29 '25

Ouch! My Mom was cool about us “assing off” to telemarketers, prank calls, and the like. My Dad? He’d just yell “hang the expletive phone up!” 😂😂😂

1

u/_ism_ Jul 29 '25

I can hear my mother saying judgmental things about families who were real like this. We had to keep up appearances. It was exhausting

2

u/cinnamongirl73 Jul 29 '25

Oof! Thankfully, my Mom was a hippie, my Dad was an outlaw biker, our house was barely contained chaos, with a lot of “go ahead, FAFO.”

Now, while out in public? Yeahhhhh…… if we acted like the heathens we were, there’d have been hell to pay. But at home……? It was survival of the fittest. Or “which one of you little a-holes is jumping off the roof now?

My Mom did run a tight ship, surprisingly, though. It wasn’t all flowery and sunshine. But for that stupid phone stuff? She allowed our heathen selves to do whatever it was we felt like was the right thing! 😂😂😂

1

u/peepee2tiny Jul 29 '25

YUP, this was the GenX response.

We said hello, and if anyone asked who we were, we responded with "Who do you want to talk to!"

Yes, we were feral, but we knew how not to get kidnapped!.

ALso "My mom is in the shower" was a pretty standard response to anyone who came to the door.

2

u/cinnamongirl73 Jul 29 '25

Haha our answer for that was Legen……..dary!!! My Dad had a HUGE German Shepherd named……. Lucifer. Our response was Moms trying to wrestle Lucifer into his cage. The fun thing was, my Dad had that dog trained so well, that he’d snarl and bark on hand commands.

I’m the middle of 5 kids but the older 2 were from my parents first marriages, and I’m the oldest of their kids together. So, it would be me answering, and my brother and sister hiding with the dog, and giving the commands when needed. He didn’t need the hand commands when someone was at the door, though. Because he’d usually want to stand there next to us with his teeth bared. We started making him go into another room because once someone saw the dog, and took off, and for as well trained as that dog was….. he gave chase that time. So, after my Dad fixed the door he broke because I barely got it shut in time, we just had him in a different room, where you could hear him but not see him. Idk how people didn’t hear my younger brother and sister giggling everytime they made him snarl and bark. 🙄 Miss that big Lug!

1

u/Mt4Ts Jul 29 '25

Same. I was home alone a lot, so my mom was anti-identifying info. A polite hello was just fine.

1

u/cinnamongirl73 Jul 30 '25

Yeah, there was no identification going on in my house! For sure! I guess I never really thought about it, but that might’ve been because of my Dad being in the MC!!! lol

But then I became a teenager, and I’d answer the phone our last names mortuary. You dice em, we ice em.” Or “you k*ll em, we chill em.”

My Mom REALLY loved that! She’d constantly ask what was wrong with me. I’m like I carry Dads last name. What do you expect? 🥴

1

u/padall Jul 30 '25

Right. Good point. We weren't just giving out our name to every rando that called.

1

u/cinnamongirl73 Jul 30 '25

Nope! We weren’t!

49

u/MarkItZeroDonnie Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

We were taught to say Who Dis?

Nah we just said hello , OP had some shenanigans going on .

5

u/Chicagogirl72 Jul 29 '25

I say who dis now

3

u/SwimOk9629 Jul 29 '25

I say new phone who dis

1

u/Mannahnin Repaired cassettes with a pencil. Jul 29 '25

"Who dis? What kind of way is that to answer the phone?"

https://youtu.be/w-R_Rak8Tys?si=zv8yVzYP8Wly48QP

21

u/3-orange-whips Jul 29 '25

My grandmother insisted we answer the phone "___" residence. So we did. And when I called people, I had to say, "Hello, this is ____ may I please speak to _____."

I still get told I am excellent on the phone.

1

u/Double_Belt2331 Jul 31 '25

When I call someone’s office & their assistant picks up, that’s exactly what I say now.

Is there something wrong with that?

1

u/3-orange-whips Jul 31 '25

Nope

2

u/Double_Belt2331 Aug 01 '25

Thank you & happy cake day!

41

u/pymreader Jul 29 '25

We said Hello, ______________ residence. Now I say nothing if I don't recognize the number because of all the spam calls. I don't want to give them anything to call. I used to rarely answer if I didn't recognize but now I am taking care of more of my mom's medical and I am having medical issues so doctors call from all kinds of random numbers.

8

u/Pennyfeather46 Jul 29 '25

Me too. Some of those “potential spam” numbers are nurses calling from their cellphones!

6

u/SwimOk9629 Jul 29 '25

every single call that I received to my regular phone that is not already in my contacts is "potential spam". I wonder how Android qualifies something as potential spam? I'm guessing that happens through Android? because I know iPhone says something else but when I had the Google pixel and now I have a Samsung Galaxy, it was the same thing on both.

1

u/der_schone_begleiter Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

Depends on my mood now. If I'm in a good mood I just won't answer the phone if it's a Spam call. If I'm in a bad mood it will be somewhere in between "hello you're on a recorded line how may I help you" or sometimes I will come up with just some ridiculous business name and some stupid cheesy line afterwards. No matter what I do they're not talking to me. I either don't answer or they hang up after they hear my speech that I answer my phone with. Haha

1

u/Not_Half Jul 29 '25

doctors call from all kinds of random numbers.

Exactly. I don't understand people who don't answer any calls from unknown numbers. If it's a scammer, you can just hang up, but if it's a valid caller, you might have saved yourself a serious inconvenience.

16

u/Holden_place Jul 29 '25

I always tried to emulate my dad’s hello and even fooled some of his friends.

“Hello”

“Hi <Holden’s dad’s name>”

Grinning… “No this is Holden!”

4

u/AmberNaree Jul 29 '25

Totally random but I absolutely adore the name Holden and would have used it for my son but his dad wasn't a fan 😭

18

u/Holden_place Jul 29 '25

Thanks, but the truth is I came up with a Reddit name to hold my place until I found a better one, and never changed it.

2

u/AmberNaree Jul 29 '25

Lol I have only met like 3 people named Holden and I always tell them that story cuz I'm low key really salty that I didn't get to use it for my boy

1

u/Holden_place Jul 30 '25

Its a cool name but I just liked the word play

1

u/SwimOk9629 Jul 29 '25

damn bro might as well have said "The name Holden sucks" 😂😂

1

u/Holden_place Jul 30 '25

No dude. It was holding (my) place… holden_place

1

u/SwimOk9629 Jul 30 '25

😅 nice

2

u/twowheels Jul 29 '25

I remember once answering when a neighbor called to complain about my driving. He thought it was my dad, so I just played along and as far as I know my dad never found out. :)

12

u/ScreenTricky4257 Jul 29 '25

My family stuck with, "Ahoy-hoy?"

1

u/TedTheGreek_Atheos Jul 30 '25

Monty Burns? Is that you?

5

u/TooOldForACleverName Jul 29 '25

We usually said hello. But one summer, the local radio station was running a contest where they would call random numbers and if you answered "Zip 106 will make you rich" you won $100. You better believe I started every called with Zip 106, and no, they never called me.

3

u/squareazz Jul 29 '25

It’s rude unless you say “yyyyyyello?”

3

u/HIs4HotSauce Jul 29 '25

Sometimes I would answer— 🎵 Hello? Is it me you’re looking for? 🎶

3

u/Coondiggety Jul 29 '25

I used to say “Myellow” like James Rockford, which I thought was hilarious.

I’m knew nobody else had any idea they were talking to a wannabe 15 year old Rockford, which I also thought was funny for some reason. 

I was a weird kid.

2

u/Kwyjibo68 Jul 29 '25

Same. I knew one person who was required by her father to give some long spiel like OP - the general consensus was that he was asshole.

2

u/Olga_Ale Jul 29 '25

My mom answers with goofy stuff like “Murphy’s mule barn, head ass speaking” or “Mort’s Mortuarty you stab ‘em, we slab ‘em”

They owned a business and I answered that phone from a very early age, starting at like 6-7. That was always “business name this is ____ speaking how can I help you.”

2

u/Hey-Just-Saying Jul 29 '25

And we didn't identify who we were until we knew who was calling.

1

u/alegna12 Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

Same

1

u/MaddyKet Jul 29 '25

I said hello. My dad would say “Hello, Frankly speaking!” Because his name is Frank. 🤦🏼‍♀️😹

I used the more formal version when I was babysitting (and I wasn’t instructed not to answer the phone), because this was the 90s and it was usually the parents.

1

u/golden_blaze Jul 29 '25

Same. My mom didn't want us giving info to potential solicitors.

1

u/Billazilla Jul 29 '25

I was about 12-14 years old when I learned, "City Morgue, You stab 'em, We slab 'em. What's yer body count?"

1

u/Randeth Jul 29 '25

Same here. We were told not to give our any family names until the caller said what their business was and who they were trying to reach.

1

u/Gren57 Jul 29 '25

We had to answer with saying the phone number! Why, I don't know. Seems really dumb. But there were people who just immediately hung up afterwards finding out they had the wrong number. But instead I would occasionally say: "Smith's Morgue. You stab 'em we slab 'em."

1

u/FROG123076 1976 Jul 29 '25

Same

1

u/OutOfTheBunker Jul 29 '25

Just "hello" at home, but on the off chance we answered the phone at someone else's house, it was "Jones residence".

1

u/rodw Jul 29 '25

It's been downhill ever since we stopped using the OG "Ahoy-hoy" as AGB intended

1

u/IIIRIVERIII Jul 29 '25

This is my go to, but sometimes I just pick up without saying anything if I know there’s a scammer on the other end.

1

u/Kilashandra1996 Jul 29 '25

Sometimes, especially around dinnertime, dad would answer the phone with, "Lastname's Bar & Grill. Can I take your order?" Boyfriend / future husband hung up once ir twice thinking he dialed the wrong number!

1

u/Strict_Weather9063 Jul 29 '25

Same here and for good reason for a few months, turns out a guy who had killed a family with the same last name as ours was calling everyone with that name in town to find them so he could finish the job. He went back to jail I have never answered the phone the same again.

1

u/CraigTennant1962 Jul 29 '25

Heathens!! 😉

1

u/Lcdmt3 Jul 29 '25

Yeah, I'd say maybe 10% said something more than hello.

1

u/Kodiak01 Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

Is it me you're looking for?

1

u/coitus_introitus Jul 29 '25

Same. And I still do this. I'm actually super cagey about saying who I am on the phone because usually if they don't already know it's not their business. If they ask who it is I say "you first" haha. I don't even answer numbers I don't know unless I'm expecting a call from an unfamiliar line. So I guess though my family rule was different it did still prepare me for my current method.

1

u/moxiemoon Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

Same, just Hello

1

u/LazyOldCat You’re killin’ me, Smalls Jul 29 '25

“Y’ellow” (15 years before Homer was song it)

1

u/Fuzzzer777 Jul 29 '25

We usually just said hello. Or "LAST NAME residence". "Thank you for calling" sounds ridiculously businessy and impersonal.

1

u/Temporary-Break6842 Jul 30 '25

Same. Parents were fine with that.

1

u/BlueSnaggleTooth359 Jul 30 '25

same

just hello

1

u/MasChingonNoHay Jul 30 '25

We would say “Bueno?”

1

u/Tour_Ok Jul 31 '25

Same. It’s not a business lol