For myself, phone openings tend to vary A LOT depending on who it is, what time it is, and where I am.
For the most part, I like to be a very social and polite person on the phone although is always isn't the case.
Strange enough as it is, when starting a conversation on the phone, I always try to fit in a couple routine questions before the actual conversation starts. Questions such as, "where are you?", "how have you been?", and "what have you been up to?"
I will even ask the questions if I don't care about the answer at all. Does that make me a terrible person? haha
Does anyone else do the same thing?
However there are instances where all my social phone behavior goes right out the window. When I get a call early in the morning or when I'm out at night with my friends I tend to skip the introduction questions and try to get the conversation over with as fast as possible so that I can get back to what I was doing. In other cases, I will skip a phone opening if I was just talking to the person a minute ago or if I'm in a rush.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, my phone behavior and phone openings completely change when I am on the phone for a job interview. It's almost like I'm a new person and have complete interest in EVERYTHING the other person has to say. I am very attentive and respond with a listener response after almost every sentence. I wonder whether phone interviewers know that I'm not being myself 100%? and if they even take into consideration my extreme politeness and attentive behavior?
Do you guys do the same, and have several different "personalities" or behaviors on the phone depending on certain situations?
or... am I the only one?
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Haha, yes I do have different 'personalities' when i'm on the phone! If say, i'm on the phone with someone I haven't met for a long time, I probably would go through the same routine questions. Might sound fake, but it's better than awkward silences!
ReplyDeleteRelationship with the person on the other side really makes a difference for me; it can turn me into a whole new person like what you said. I guess some part of it is due to how I want to portray myself, for example, if talking to someone more senior, like my lecturer, I would have a polite, yes-can-do attitude so as to come across as respectful...or if you take a different perspective, you could call me a fake. ;p
-Huimin
It just shows that we're all very adaptable. We adapt our use of communicative strategies to different people, places, and occasions. I don't think that's something to be guilty about.
ReplyDeleteOf course you are not the only one!
ReplyDeleteAs professor wrote above,
I think every person's speech changes according to situations or contexts.
That tells you that you are a social person, I think.