Calling Courtesy

I get weird phone calls at odd hours. Some of my friends are late-night folks, and a 9:40 -10:00pm call "just to talk" is nothing for them. However, my alarm goes off at 4:30am each weekday, and so I'm fast asleep by 9:40 (a girl's got to get her beauty-rest, you know).

This is one of those mornings I need to call someone at home, and I'm concerned I will call too early. So, what is it? What are those times of the day that are just "too early" or "too late" for a phone call? I realize that if a very close friend or family member called me at midnight or 3am, it's probably pretty dern important, or they wouldn't be waking me up, and if my job calls me late at night, they're serious, because nobody wants to deal with me cranky the next morning.

What's your opinion? What's too late, and what's too early?

Mornings for me 8:00 or 9:00 is a reasonable time. Weekends 9:00 or 10:00. My Mom you can call her anytime after 6:30. My Aunt will take calls anytime after 4:30am. How well do you know the person and their habits?

This message was edited Feb 1, 2007 10:19 AM

I've met the person once that I need to call this morning. I'm planning to call around 10:00am.. I was just curious what everyone else finds as "courtesy" when making or receiving calls.

Morning calls do not bother me nearly as much as night calls.

Night time is for resting for most people, day time is time to get
the day started, get moving, make progress. Of course, I'm sure
this is all in reverse for someone working the graveyard shift.

As the evening settles down, the sun sets, we've had supper
and I'm in my pajamas, the last thing I want to hear is a phone
ringing. Perhaps I'm just getting into my creature comforts a bit
too much.

:-) Karen Marie

Although I get up at 6 am due to newborns schedule I don't appreciate calls sooner than 9 am as it takes about that long to get my morning stuff done, breakfast and baby bath out of the way.

But it's nighttime calls after 7 pm that bother me more. I am usually resting watching some TV or enjoying the family and not near the ringing phone.

So between the hours of 9-7 work for this household.

At work I usually start my phone calls after 9:00 am and of course check what time zone they are in.

I'm up early and my office is at home. Calls after 8 am aren't troublesome to me, but I don't call anyone myself before 9 am. in their time zone.

It's those evening calls that are intrusive. By 6 pm I'm in the midst of preparing dinner, and then we eat at 7 and settle down for the evening. That's family time and I just let all calls after 7 pm go to voice mail and return them the next day unless it's something urgent, which is rare. Caller ID is a blessing and helps me avoid long chatters at inconvenient times.

I agree that late evening and night are not the time I want to receive a call, even tho I keep the phone by my chair. Early, any time after 6:00 am is okay except that is when I'm at the computer, Dial-Up you know.

Donna

If it is someone I don't know well I try to make calls after 9:00 am and before 7:00 pm. week days and 10:00 to 7:00 on week ends. Other than that I try to fit calls to the other person's schedule if I know them well.

We finally connected via phone... and as a result, I was able to ride my horses at his covered arena both days this weekend....

(and was offered a strange "ride his horses" opportunity, but that'll end up in the Equine Forum, tomorrow I s'pose, unless my fingers get a little more coordinated soon)

Personally, I think you should never call before 8 am or after 8:30 pm. Nor should you ever call during meal hours. So a safe time to call me in the evening is between 7:30 -8:30. After 9pm, it had better be an emergency.