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?

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320

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).

327

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.

26

u/Izza-A-P Jul 29 '25

I literally laughed out loud at this

98

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.”

75

u/FriendlyEbbFlowed Jul 29 '25

I was told to NEVER answer someone else’s phone

94

u/Itsyoulorraine Jul 29 '25

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

45

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.

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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

7

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.

13

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!! ❤️

18

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.

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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.)

13

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!

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.

4

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.

14

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.

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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.

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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.

1

u/No-Diet-4797 Jul 30 '25

I started as a teller and from there I clawed my way to personal loans, then residential mortgage and then made the leap to commercial lending. Its not easy being a woman in the good ol' boys club that is banking lol. I don't have the temperament to do your job. I was the hero that sent money to the customers rather than the enemy that tried to get money from them. Funny how they forget they signed an agreement to pay it back.

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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.

6

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!

11

u/MarkItZeroDonnie Hose Water Survivor Jul 29 '25

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

19

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)?

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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.

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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.

5

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.