Why do people wait days to call you back when you call them on a cell phone?

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Sounds personal.

Maybe they’re too busy to answer and then forget you called. It happens to me every now and then. I keep telling myself I have to call so and so back and by the time I get to it its already been a couple days.

Because I have a life. I’ll get back to you when I have free time, not when it’s convenient for you.

Mixed reactions so far. If I miss someone’s call I will make time to get back to them. Maybe it’s because I’m always worried something might be wrong, or I would like to be treated the same way, maybe I was just raised right but I would never wait days.

If I get a call I can’t handle I’ll even text them to let them know I’ll call back later. Writing this down I just realized maybe I’m the one that’s too obsessive about missing phone calls :) Anyway being busy is not an excuse to wait days (several times), that just sounds rude and unworthy of your friendship.

Sometimes I don’t carry my cell phone. Horrors! I will discover a missed call a day or two ago and think “If it so was important they’d call my house or email. The problem must be solved already.”
Very rarely do I get a call because someone is offering to help me or give me money. It’s usually someone complaining about their life, asking for help, or needing money. Why would I call back?

I can’t stand it when people call repeatedly while I’m busy ignoring their calls.

Just because I can always have my phone does not mean that I do.

I have a life that I need to live and having a cell phone up my butt may prevent me from doing so.

@jamielynn2328 if your cell phone is up your butt, may I suggest a holster, a belt clip or even just keeping it in your pocket? Might make you less grumpy.

I forget my phone more often than I carry it. I often don’t notice calls until days later and then I ignore them. I assume if they were important they would have tried on house phone or at work.

I take a long time to call back (much to my mother’s dismay) because I just don’t realize I’ve missed a call.
a) Almost all of my chatting is on the computer, whether it’s through emails, website, IM programs or games. That’s a massive chunk of what I do, my phone is used more as a clock/calculator/alarm than it is as a phone.
b) I don’t get any significant notice that I have missed a call. If I miss a text, and I check my phone later (to check the time, of course), my front LCD screen is completely lit up saying “1 missed message”, and when I open up my phone it opens right up to the text. If I miss a call, what do I get? A tiny little icon that I typically mistake for the icon that indicates my phone is on vibrate mode. That’s all. So it may be days until I actually look at the icons and realize I’ve missed a call.

Do you usually call people for a reason, or do you call “just to talk”? I return calls right away to people I know call for a specific reason. If they’re from people who just want to talk, those can wait until I have time to talk.

The problem I have is that I think people who I know have their phones on should call you back eventually.Within a day I think is fine.It seems like people go through phases where they answer your call in a timely way and they don’t.You can’t rely on getting in touch with the cell phone or getting a call back.Most times it doesn’t matter if I get the call back.Then I do the same thing when they call me on purpose.I don’t call them back for a week or two.I guess that’s how I get back in my own little way.It sounds like I’m being spiteful.I think it’s the way it goes you don’t call me back so I don’t call you back.

@Rebel28921, playing games with people is usually a waste of time. Generally they’re too obtuse to notice.

@Rebel28921 Good luck with that, you’re not making life easier for yourself that way (trust me I know). Some day you will learn that you are not the center of the universe, and will stop playing these games, I hope there will still be anyone left to call back by then ;) If you really have that much of a problem with it, talk to them about it.

I agree with @markyy. Talk to them about it. In person. Not by text, phone or e-mail. The old fashioned way.

@Rebel28921 Think about the last 20 calls you made. Go ahead and look – they are still stored on your phone. Now, look at them through the recipients’ eyes. Were those calls positive or negative? Were you complaining? Were you rambling on about a subject that did not matter to them? Were you asking them to do something for you? Were you calling when they were busy? Did you start talking without asking “Is this call ok for you now?”. Did you call when you were socializing with another group or with someone else? Did you call them multiple times per day?
Only you can answer these questions. Think about it a bit and decide what you can change to improve your call-back score.

Do you leave a voice mail or figure they will notice a missed call? If I have a missed call without a message, I assume it wasn’t important and don’t call back.

Also, I suppose I am old, but my cell phone is not my main phone. My home phone is the first place to try me and the first place I expect to be called. I can see if I have a message by a red flashing light and check those messages right away. I don’t often check my cell to see if I have a message, so it may be a day or two before I notice.