Modern etiquette question: How do you answer the phone?

What do you want?

Oh, it depends. Sometimes I’ll say hello [person’s name]. Sometimes just hello, especially if it’s from a land line at a household. It depends on whether I want to make it obvious I have caller ID. My phone doesn’t ID everyone, of course. We don’t even answer to “out of area” and for some reason, “out of area” never leaves a message. Neither does “Cell phone PA” for some reason.

At work, I identify the organization and ask if I can help them, unless I recognize the phone number. If it’s my home number, I’ll just say “Hello.”

And yes, like @Adirondackwannabe, sometimes, if it’s my crazy friend, it’ll be something like, “Hey, Shithead!” or “Hey, Asshole!” I mean, if I don’t say it first, then that’s what he’ll say. Ah, the life of a guy!

I still say “hello.” It could be someone else using the phone.

I just say “Hello”. I use to say “Hi Mom” if it showed my mom’s number on caller ID, but after a few times of it not being my mom, I stopped doing that. Now it’s just the standard “Hello” for everyone, though some may have more enthusiasm than others.

At work, we have a very specific way we are suppose to answer the phone, even when we know who is calling.

I answer with “hello” or “hi firstname.” Many of my phones don’t have caller ID, so I still use the blind hello.

If I am calling someone and they answer “hi JL,” I just say “hi” back and continue with the conversation. If they answer “hello” I identify myself, usually my full name, including last name, except for my very very close friends and family I use just my first name or say “it’s me.”

If I know who it is I definitely answer with the name of a random local business in a disguised voice. If I don’t, I don’t answer.

Hello, you’ve reached the city Morgue. If you’re calling about the used towels for sale on craigslist, please leave a message at the beep for Dave.

Home phone: “Hello BlahBlah Residence”

Cell Phone: “Hi So&So How are you?”

Sometimes I will just answer, “Were your ears burning? I was just getting ready to call you.”
Sometimes I just pretend like I don’t know and say “Hello.”

Usually for family and friends I answer “Yo.” If i’m happy you called I answer “What’s good bro?! How you doin?” or sometimes i just say “Hello?” (as in Hello? Why are you calling me? Who are you? Is this important?) And when i’m at work I answer “Thank you for calling XX, this is XX…”

I don’t usually add the callers name into the greeting.

“Who is it this time?”

I usually just say “Hello.” I don’t look at my caller ID very often. If I know it’s a particular friend I might pick up and say ” Hey!” Sometimes I say ” Good MORNING!” too, if it is morning, obviously. haha

Moshi Moshi

I don’t like talking on the phone, and most people know that. That’s why they almost always text me. But if a person does, I always answer with ”Talk to me.”

@majorrich I didn’t know you are Japanese.

If it’s my daughter or my girlfriend, I say “Hi Sweetie”; my son, “hi buddy”. If it’s my mom I say “hello mom”. Everyone else I say hello at home, or “Peter—-” if I am at work.

I am an Air Force brat. Born and raised in Okinawa.

I always just say “hello”. I feel like I should be saying something more, maybe something more formal, but I don’t know.

I say “Hi (insert name here)” . Or “Hey” if it is one of my sons.

Hi @LuckyGuy !

“Pronto”

It depends on what name shows up on the caller id. If the call is potentially from somebody important, or if I know the person I’ll usually just say ‘hello’. I generally do not answer unwanted calls to begin with, so negative exchanges are avoided this way. <—Namely telemarketers.

Hello this is Peggy.

@Adirondackwannabe Your name is Peggy? You got some ‘splainin’ to do. lol

My friends sons voice is on her answering machine. Says ” Hi this is Sheila” in his deep 20 yr. old man voice. It’s hilarious!
The other night my phone rang at 10:30 and when I said “hello” I got an operator saying ” You have a collect call from insert some creepy guys voice “David” from ————- county jail!”

WTF!
I don’t know anyone in jail!
I just remained silent and then the operator said, ” I’m sorry, nobody is responding to your request” and hung up. Poor David. haha

@Coloma We’ll see who gets it. :)

And then of course, there’s this classic solution.

I almost always adopt the Lurch approach, “You rang!”

Since I’ve matured somewhat, and only sometimes, according to those who know me I no longer answer the way I used to when I lived at home with Mom & Dad:

“Andy’s Abortions. You rape ‘em, we scrape ‘em. No fetus can beat us. Got a problem?”

or

“Joe’s Bar and Grill, Grill speaking.”

If I know who’s calling- “Hi so-and-so :)”

If I don’t know who’s calling- “This is Neizvestnaya…”

I think in the situation I’m thinking of, I say “hi” in a tone that implies I know who it is and they are prepared to tell me who it is so it makes it a bit awkward.

I have several options.
Hello?
What up?
Go ahead, it’s your nickel.
County morgue, you slice ‘em, we ice ‘em.
Depends entirely on my mood. I know it’s only going to be my mom, my sister, my kids, by the caller ID. Also some friends. If some random person calls using someone’s phone who is listed in my caller ID, they run the risk of an awkward moment. I won’t lose a moments sleep over it.

If it’s someone I know I say, “Hay lo!”
If it’s an 800 number, IF I answer, I say, “Hello.” in a very suspicious tone.
Other than that it’s “Hello?” politely.

I ask them what their favorite horror movie is.

I don’t see any reason to alter the traditional “hello,” and I wish others would just stick with that even if they recognize my number. It makes the initial formalities as simple as possible so you don’t wind up having to talk about them and can get on with your actual business.

For what it’s worth, jokey and intentionally smartassy greetings make me just want to hang up.

Hello, Bellatrix Leverystrange speaking.

Only I use my real name.

If it’s a friend or one of my kids, sometimes I say “hey” in a happy tone. Otherwise, I just say “hello”.

The company I worked for had internal caller ID, and it also worked with some outside numbers. Even if a name popped up on the display, I learned to stick with “Hello?”. Too many times it was someone else using another co-worker’s phone. Had the greeting been “Hi @janbb,!” then there is a need for the caller to explain that they are not the penguin and why they are using that phone. The same applies to a phone that is shared by others, be it a family member or a friend.

Another reason I stopped using “This is Pied” when answering the phone stems from an incident experienced several years ago. While staying at a hotel, the guestroom phone rang in the early evening. I answered it, “This is Pied.” The caller said, “Pied? This is Bob from Bob’s Strip-O-Gram. I’ve been hired to come perform for you. Are you still in room 123?”

I worked in the hotel business long enough to hear way too many of the horror stories about guests who had a false sense of security in this type of setting and let a stranger into their room. From that point on, “Hello?” is used when answering the phone.

For some reason, it’s disconcerting when someone answers the phone “Hi Val!” I mean, I know it’s because of caller ID but it’s still odd. Not sure why.

@Dutchess_III I feel the same way and almost mentioned it. For me, I suspect that it comes from spending a larger portion of my life so far in a world where Caller ID didn’t exist. Now, when I call someone’s cell phone and they answer, “Hi Pied”, I look upon it as a compliment that they at least have me programmed in their phone and take the call. :)

To me it’s…a little jarring. Like we missed a step! Maybe it does come from spending most of our lives pre-ID.

@Dutchess_III Yes – that’s what I’m sensing. Like I or the other person wants to tell you their name and it throws the rhythm off.

Something like that! Yes…Like, “I have a surprise for you!” .... and they already know the surprise. Not surprise surprises suck.

(Kind of like knowing the sex of the baby before it’s born.)

Yeah! Wait…I knew that…

I didn’t realize until after I answered that I always answer my cell with “this is Judi.” I answer my husbands phone with, “Jeff’s phone. ”

@Judi I would be shocked if my wife or children answered my phone unless I expressly asked them to. Generally, it is on my person, or within a few feet of me, or it is charging. I don’t know how they would answer it if they did, though.

If he’s not able to get to it before it goes to voice mail I answer it all the time.

Even though I usually know who is calling I still say “hello” but in a tone that suggests that I know who is calling. Sometimes I will say “hi mate” if it is a good friend.

I miss the sound of a common phone ringing and someone singing out “I’ll get it!”