Speaker phone. Does it make you angry when people talk to you through the speaker option on the phone?

Question

I cannot stand for people to talk through the speaker phone thingee, because I have a hard time hearing them....and I dont like my conversation to be broadcast to anyone other than the person I am speaking with on the phone. Anybody else agree, don't care, have a story to tell?

Answer 1

It doesn't make me angry. It makes me feel like the person cares nothing for my privacy and that whatever they are doing while talking to me is more important than I am. I don't get angry, I just stop calling.

Answer 2

I don't care much for it. I use the phone for short specific conversations. If it takes more than a minute I prefer a face to face conversation.
This, obviously, excluding business phone calls that I'd like to keep to minimum but they last as long as they have to.
I use the speaker phone while driving but I pick up the call, report where I am and ask to be called later or at home or at the office. If I call someone and gets a speaker phone, I usually ask if I should call later.
Overall, I think the most annoying thing is the long phone call...

Answer 3

If the other person is in an entirely private setting and they are willing to speak loudly and clearly then I don't have a problem with speaker phone, but it is incredibly rude to put one on speaker phone in a public place. WHen ever I am talking to someone who puts me on speaker phone, I typically just ask nicely that they give me a call back when they have their hands free to avoid using the speaker phone option. Most people get the point, and those who don't never get to finish their conversation.

Answer 4

I believe the ONLY instance when speaker phones should be used is when it is important for a group of people to be speaking at once. I don't mind using them among a group of friends at a party, when speaking with someone who was unable to attend and everyone has something they want to say and wants to make certain the person on the other end feels included in the festivities. But in the business/professional world, people who frequently need to have group meetings by phone would do well to invest in quality teleconferencing equipment and not basic speakerphones. I wouldn't wish to do business in such a manner.

Answer 5

I use the speaker capability while driving as a hands free option and at home when friends or my parents call so my husband can be on as well. My husband uses speaker in an enclosed room when people from different locations need to be part of the meeting. Other than that, I find it rude to interject not only one side but both sides of an innocuous conversation on the rest of us.

Answer 6

UGH! Don't even get me started on this! As a matter of fact, it's going on right now in the office next to mine. My coworker has support staff in another state and she's trying to train them from here. She is always talking on speaker phone, yelling at her new staff, talking down to her staff...I feel embarrassed for these new girls. The only time she doesn't talk on speaker is if it's a personal call. She's on the phone all day long. I think she even has one of those expensive cordless headsets sitting on her desk. I don't know why she doesn't use it.

I feel like there's nothing I can do about it either since she's kind of a *****. She really doesn't care if it bothers anyone else or not. I find it very hard to concentrate. I'm about to talk to my boss about it or ask to move my office to the empty one that's a few away from her.

Answer 7

A lot depends on the reason they are using the speaker phone. I do not like it and will ask them to take me off speaker if there is not a valid reason to use it (when I am speaking to more than one person is a valid reason).

Answer 8

unless there is somebody else in the room who needs to hear the conversation, it is incredibly rude to talk on a speakerphone. the message it's sending is "You're not important enough for me to stop what I'm doing and pick up the phone."

i always ask them -- politely-- to turn off the speakerphone because the sound is muffled. if they say they can't, i ask them to call back when they're not so busy.

Answer 9

I don't like it either.

My daughter had her attorney in the car with her one day and called me to tell me what he said he could do about her divorce. I didn't realize she was on speaker phone and I said something ugly about lawyers and how he would get everything and she and her soon-to-be-ex would get nothing but the divorce papers. I wasn't embarrassed, but she was..........

Answer 10

I only get upset when someone does not tell me that I am on speaker option. Other than that I don't mind.