Poll: Did you get prank calls before caller ID? Did you ever ask this question after one?

Question

As a youngster when my household received 'hang ups' (well before caller ID), my father would persistently ask "Did they hang up before or after you said hello?" He would demand an answer. To this day I don't understand what it matters. He won't tell me so I quit asking a long time ago.

However, after all these years I'm still curious as to why he asked this particular question. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

My parents would also ask the very same question. I have never understood why it mattered; the caller hung-up end of story. I'm curious too, but i have no idea. Maybe our parents thought we weren't using proper telephone etiquette.

Answer 2

He probably wanted to know if there was a possibility that it was someone you knew therefore they waited to see who answered. I have no clue. Did you ever ask him? I don't get prank calls anymore for some reason and we don't have caller ID either.

Whoops! Missed the part where you said he wouldn't tell you! Maybe he realized it was someone pranking him and they wanted it to be HIM that answered!

Answer 3

Hmmm. If they hang up before you say hello, it's maybe a wrong number, or just kids playing. If it was "after" maybe it's the wife's boyfriend or the husband's girlfriend, hoping the "right" person answers the phone, and hanging up rather than risk some ugly repercussions. That's not to insinuate that either of your parents were cheating, but if someone hangs up after I say hello, I am going to look really hard at my hubby's spare time...or maybe he thought it was one of y'all's significant others not wanting to talk to anyone else. Wonder why he won't tell you, though. Maybe even he doesn't know, lol!

Answer 4

Sometimes I still get prank calls even with caller ID. A true call prankster won't let caller ID stop them. I don't mind them as bad a the damn telemarketers though.

Answer 5

Yes, I think he had a girlfriend on the side, and he probably told her to hang up if anyone other than him answered the phone. Or he suspected your mother of having an affair, because he had been getting hang- up calls whenever he answered the phone!!
That would be the only reason I can think of, that he wouldn't want to tell you.

Answer 6

when i was growing up, my parents had the easiest phone # around- it ends in 0000. before we had caller i.d. we would get about 10 - 15 pranks a day. trust me we were the first people in our town to get it. we had a ton of fun pranking people back. anyways to answer your question about when they hang up- sorry but i have no idea why your dad wanted to know that.

Answer 7

If the caller hangs up after you say hello, he could be a robber checking to see if anyone's home.

Answer 8

Maybe he thought if they hung up after hearing your voice, then it was probably them realizing they called the wrong number and it was just an innocent mis-dial. On the other hand, if they hung up BEFORE hearing your voice, than it was obviously on purpose and there must've been something sinister going on. Just a possibility.

Answer 9

my guess would be that if they hung up after they heard your voice they were avoiding you or maybe waiting for someone else to answer and when they heard their voice they would not hang up for instance say if he had a girl friend and she wouuld call and only talk when your dad would answer but i only used that for an example your dad did not have a girl friend

Answer 10

I have no idea why he asked that question but I used to prank call SO much when I was younger, lol.