What is the proper etiquette for closing a call, to take a call waiting?

There is no polite way to use call waiting. The proper etiquette is to disable it.

Oh, crap, I hate being first on a survey! I feel so exposed up here, all along... and now everyone is going to read my comment and think I'm some kind of phone Nazi.

double crap, now I'm second too and probably third.

I don't know if there is a proper etiquette for this or not. My landline (which I don't use that much) has call waiting, but I rarely use it.

You are basically dumping on the person you are talking to for a potentially "better" call which is totally rude and insulting. I think if you get a call beeping through and you are waiting for a call you should say "excuse me, I'll have to call you back" and then do so. If you are not expecting a call it is rude to give the person you are talking to the bums rush. Besides that, what the hell is the hurry? Call whoever is on the line back after you finish your conversation.

I only do that if I'm expecting a call.

We have it but I don't spend much time on the phone so I don't pay attention to it. I think it is rude. If I had to I guess I'd say, 'Can you hold on a second there's another call.' And then come back and say, 'I'm going to have to let you go, I have to take this call.'

One moment please...

"I gotta hang up. Someone way more interesting is on the other line."

"Gotta go. I got a call on the other line from someone I might actually end up having sex with."

"Wrap it up; God's on the other line."

"I hafta hang up. I gotta take a dump."

I have no idea. The only time I answer another call is if I'm waiting on a call from someone or Caleb's not with me and who he's with is calling in. If that happens, I'll tell the first person I've got to take this call and I'll call them back. Otherwise, I'll let the second call go to voice mail and I'll call them back when I'm finished with the first call.

Are you asking about ending a regular call? Or about seeing who else is calling you?

I'm not a fan of call waiting. However, I would expect the proper etiquette would be, "Please hold for a minute. I have a call on the other line." Then you should briefly talk to the person on call waiting and tell them that you will call them back soon. Then return to your first call. If you MUST take the second call (there should be a very good reason for this...like someone needs you at the emergency room or something), you should go back to the first person, apologize and end the call.

Dumping the first caller makes them seem unimportant and like the second caller is someone better and more interesting.

Phone NAZI!!!

(Sorry, just fun to type that phrase.)

I just wait for a pause in the conversation and ask the person to hang on a minute while I take another call. If it's a situation where I can't figure out the right etiquette for it, I take that as an indicator that it's more appropriate to ignore the call waiting. If it's that important, they'll call back, or if I'm on my cell phone, they can leave a message.

It depends on whom you are speaking to at the time, and whom the call coming in is.

> Oh, crap, I hate being first on a survey! I feel
> so exposed up here, all along... and now everyone
> is going to read my comment and think I'm some
> kind of phone Nazi.

First time I saw it, I thought you said phony nazi. Really exposed, I say.

Sorry I misunderstood the question with my first reply. I wouldn't close my call except if the call waiting was an important call, short or long distance. I'd explain to my party that there was an important call waiting, and that I would call them back when finished.

1. Just ignore it.
2. If you really must take the call, say something like "Sorry call waiting it's important" and try to keep it brief.
3. Probably better than that is "Sorry, emergency I'll call you right back."

I ask them if they can hold on because I have another call.

> There is no polite way to use call waiting. The
> proper etiquette is to disable it.

You can do that? How?

I can see up your skirt from down here. If you would wear some underwear you might not feel so exposed.

I usually say "hold on a moment" or "let me call you right back".

*70

hey, hold on a sec.

Who knows? I would say 'gotta go!'

Bill's cute.

Pardon me, another call is coming through and I need to see who it is. Could you please hold a moment?
or
Pardon me, I need to take another call. Could I call you back later?

There's someone trying to call me, I'll call you back later.

When speaking to who? In business it would be best to wind up the call without mentioning the other call but if I was talking to a friend I would probably say I needed to take another call and could I ring them back shortly.

I'm surprised how many people think it is rude to take another call. I can only assume that most people don't expect to ever get important calls. I grew up in a house where my father might need to be contacted by work to go in and potentially save somebody's lfe. We didn't have call waiting back then (nor do we now), but if we had we would have been wrong to ignore an incoming call.

Now I live in a shared house - I don't know what kind of important phone calls my housemates might be expecting so what right do I have to ignore their calls? Not that we have call waiting...has it even made it to the UK?

Goodbye" and please' do not call me back ok???????????????

> Phone NAZI!!!
>
> (Sorry, just fun to type that phrase.)

Sure why not' and tell them Goodbye and just hang up or wrong number, shame on me?

> There's someone trying to call me, I'll call you back later.

Who' calling me please??'

> Bill's cute.

Yes he is the cutest man here on Survey Central

And very handsome as well

I don't use call waiting.

I have call waiting, but I can't remember the last time I had to use it. It's rare when I get two phone calls at the same time. I don't think there are any set rules or polite way to close one of the calls, but sometimes you have to take one call over the other.

I don't know.

The polite way to handle it is to say, "I have another call coming in. Can you hold?"

Honesty.

I ask them to hold on because this is a business phone for Alice and there's an incoming call. I also tell them if I accidentally cut them off, I'll call back.

I'm pretty certain call waiting isn't one of my phone features.

We don't have call waiting or any other special features on our landline since we basically have it for my son's Tivo. I don't know if my cell phone has call waiting or not. If it does, I'm not aware of it.