Lack of telephone etiquette is hard to understand

Dear Heloise: Thank you so much for your wonderful hints. I have enjoyed them for years. Also, thank you for letting us vent. I work in a small bookstore, and is there anything called telephone etiquette anymore? To give you a few examples:

UDo not chomp on your gum and blow bubbles while on the phone, as it is very loud and we cannot understand you.

UIf you have the hiccups, please call back, as we are open from 9 to 9, and again, we cannot understand you.

UIf you are at work, please call when you are on your break, as three- or four-way conversations are hard to figure out. Are you talking to me or to someone in your office?

UDo not put me on hold, as I more than likely have customers in the store waiting for me to get off the phone so I can help them.

UPlease do not have your dog on your lap. If you let your dog bark into the phone, it is painfully loud for us.

UAnd one for the in-store customers: Please come in and get your book before dental surgery. Do you think we can understand you with a numb mouth? A Reader, via e-mail

Dear Readers: I, too, sometimes wonder if plain ol’ phone courtesy has gone into the black hole! Good points for us all to remember. Heloise

Dear Heloise: Recently, my family and I had to make an emergency stop on a remote roadside, and we spotted a small case that contained a digital camera. Unfortunately, there were few photos on the camera, and certainly nothing that could tell us who the owner might be.

I thought that it would be wise for owners of such devices to include on their memory cards a small file (text file that can be created on any computer) named “ownerinfo.txt.” It could have text like “If found, please return to ...” and that way if they were to ever lose the memory card (or the device it is in), it could be returned. One could include a cell-phone number or a mailing address, but not too much personal information. Marie Featherston, Houston

A good hint, and for those not technically savvy, stick an address label on the camera or take a photo of the same. Heloise

Dear Heloise: Whenever I get a bill for a subscription renewal, I check prices on the Internet. If I find a better price, I call the magazine’s customer-service line and ask the magazine to match the price. So far, they’ve all said yes! Kelley Sanderson, Chipeta Park, Colo.

Dear Heloise: I also save the plastic bags from the delivered newspaper. I keep a few in my car and slide one over my hand when I pump gasoline to keep the germs and odor off my hands. It works! Deborah, Fairfax Station, Va.

X Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (210) HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate