5 Sneaky ways to cut calls short with family and friends
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 38 seconds
Working at home is great. You set your own hours, are your own boss and wear pajamas to work if you feel like it. Unfortunately, there’s an often ignored drawback to working from home: phone calls.
People take it for granted that we’ll be available to talk because we’re at home.
What I’d really like to do is throw shoes at that mentality and cut the call short because I work by the hour and I’m not getting paid to talk to you.
Saying it is easy. But how are you going to cut that call short without offending anyone? Not so easy when it’s your mother on the phone is it?
However, it can be done successfully. All that’s required is a little ingenuity and bucket loads of sneakiness.
I’ll have to call you back; I have another call coming in
It works! It totally does. Thanks to the advent of caller id for call waiting, you can invent any number of important people who can be calling you.
If it’s your mother, tell her it’s your spouse. If it’s a friend, tell them it’s your mother. And if it’s your spouse – I’ll leave you to decide what to say.
Of course, another call doesn’t necessarily have to be coming in – if you know what I mean.
Oh no! Lunch/Dinner’s burning!
Make sure you don’t give the person on the other end any chance to ask more questions. That just prolongs the call. Hang up and go check. Just in case.
Hello? I think I’m losing reception. Hello? Can you hear me? Hello?
Ah, my favorite technique. It doesn’t need any explanation.
As deceptive and sneaky as it is, pretending that I’ve suddenly lost reception never fails to work – or amuse.
Cell phones are ideal for this. Keep a toffee wrapper at hand to create “disturbance” in the connection.
Hi, you’ve reached my voice mail…
So what if you’re home. Your voice mail can turn into your best friend. Screen calls or record a separate message to discourage people from calling back. Use your imagination. The possibilities are limitless.
Or you could simply let it ring if you don’t have voice mail. Just make sure you do have caller id! You wouldn’t want to miss out on a client’s call.
Call Yourself
This is an extreme measure. If you’re stuck on the phone with someone you feel you absolutely cannot get away with fooling then call yourself.
Play the ringtone on your cell phone countless time, till the person on the other end asks you to pick up. If they say they’ll hold, pretend you didn’t hear. Simply say “Thanks! I’ll call you back.”
It would be better if you downloaded a ringtone on your computer to play in case you’re not in the vicinity of another phone.
Let’s hear it
How do you get off the phone when you need to work? Ever had to apply sneaky tactics to do so?
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The problem with any of these methods is that they don’t solve the real problem. If you’re friends and family don’t understand that you’re busy and can’t talk during certain times, they’re going to continue to call you.
I think the best solution is to be honest. If you’re busy, tell them you’re busy and you’ll call them back later. If need be, explain to them that you’re always busy during normal working hours. I have always found this to work way better than being sneaky, and most people understand and won’t get offended.
Hey James. Thanks for the comment. I agree that being up front about things would work out well, but for the times where it’s just random interruptions, these tips will definitely work well.
From personal experience I know that family will overlook the fact that freelancing is actually a real job and just assume you’re free, even if you tell them otherwise, so it’s always good to have some backup plans in place like these
Hi James!
I agree, being honest is the best option but sometimes it just doesn’t work. I still get the occasional “You’re at home…” when I tell family and friends that I’m busy and working.
These work really well when you need to meet a deadline and don’t have the time to explain.
I love this piece- Thanks Samar!
My mother in law calls all the time to chat about all kinds of ridiculous rubbish.
Once, when she was on the phone- I screamed “Arrrgggghhhh, there’s a bee”
I am always after other ideas though as killer bees isn’t washing any more, so thanks a lot!
Lol @ the bee! I bet that amused you no end when you did try it though!
Do you have a pet? Maybe you can use them as an excuse. Cats and dogs can do so much damage…
Now that you gave up all your excuses, what are you going to do when your mother/spouse/friend/whatever calls and you don’t have the time to talk to them?
Very cute post. I enjoyed reading it.
Hehe, for now I’m on maternity leave. Hopefully, by the time I’m back to work, I’ll have a list of new excuses. Maybe I can use the baby as an excuse…
Glad you liked the post!
You’ll have to record her crying so you can use that instead of the ringtone recording… LOL
I love it Samar!! I will have to pass this on!
Thanks Dana! Glad you liked it
LOL Great post. Downloaded ringtone on computer seems inovating to me. Nice idea, thought.
Great interesting funny topic but so true, my new excuse is “I’m in the middle of washing up and I better go before the water gets cold”
I agree that honesty is the best way to go, sorry I am busy now with an article, I’ll call back later. However, for those random ones I use Google voice & make certain voicemail greetings for them, & I use an app on my iPhone called Fake Excuses.