Telephone Etiquette

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

I noticed that when Americans answered a call, they liked to immediately utter their own names. For example, the admin assistant of my division would say, “Ericsson, this is Michelle.” My boss would say something like, “Good morning, this is Sal. May I help you?”

This makes sense, and is better than simply saying “hello” as we usually do in this country. If the caller knows he or she is speaking to the right person, there is no need to ask, “May I speak to…”

By the time I returned to Malaysia, I had become somewhat Americanized. But guess what, Malaysians thought I was an ET! They laughed at me for answering call in such an 'unusual' way.

One day, when I was driving to the office, I received a call from an unknown number. Not wanting to be laughed at again, I just answered, "Hello." You know, the proverb says “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

To my surprise, I heard a lady purring, “Darling.” A thought flashed through my mind, “Do I have a secret admirer!??”

It turned out the lady had just dialed a wrong number. I wasn’t her darling after all. I was heart-broken…