h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Other gripe for the day ... bin collection day ... wheelie bins scattered all over the pavement ... heavens knows how mothers with pushchairs cope on the way back from school ... would it be such a dramatic effort for the binpeople to put them back neatly at the back of the pavement?

People who don't reply to taxt messages. It's one thing when the text was a general comment which doesn't need a reply, but I text a bunch of friends last night asking if they fancy going for a curry on Thursday, and a number of them haven't replied one way or the other.

People who expect me to constantly check my phone for texts.

People who haven't any courage to to something alone, without a friend or husband/wife.

Texts.

Much slower, less efficient and less friendly than a phone call.

PP

I often respond to a text with a call. It'd much easier.

PP

I sent a text because a) they're free for me and b) I was asking a good 12 people if they wanted to come, so it's much easier to send the same text to everyone than to ring them all individually.

I don't object to people not replying straight away but it's been nearly a day now - surely they check their phones before they go to bed, at least?

I've not checked mine in about three weeks

You sound like my mom - never turns it on.

OK. I'm up for the curry.

Usual place?

PP.

No reception here - I have to walk up into the fields for that. I usually take it with me when I go into town, to check for missed calls.

PP - 6.30 ok for you?

The Taj Mahal?

PP

Of course. You're paying, right?

I think the opposite. If it's only to convey some information or to pose a question which requires some thought or research, I think it's far more considerate to send a text which the other person can then read when they have time.

People often call at inconvenient times, which is understandable, as they can't know what you're doing at that very moment.

To use Elentari's example: - if someone rings me up just as I'm getting on a train, or while I'm at the till in a supermarket to ask me if I'd like to go for a curry on Thursday, I'm not going to be able to concentrate on the conversation, and, even if I cut it short and promise to ring back, I will probably forget details such as the date, time or place. Much more useful to receive a text with the details which I can refer to later, check my diary, deliberate about whether I want to go. Then I can ring Elentari back and not waste time on the phone call deciding on the spot whether I can go or not, because I've already gone through the decision-making under less pressure and in my own time, and been able to devote some minutes exclusively to that problem. Further advantages: I don't get on the wrong train, and I have my hands free to check my change at the supermarket. When Thursday comes, I can still check the text to see I've got the right time and place without bothering Elentari with another phone call.

Equally - if I'm the one doing the inviting, I don't want to phone someone and then have them spending five minutes doing their private decision-making at my expense, in my time, and, ironically, feeling pressurised into making a hasty decision because it's my time and phone charges they're using up. Rather make the curry date by means of an informative text (see above) and spend the phone call - at the leisure of both caller and called - after a quick confirmation of the dining arrangements, talking about interesting stuff.

Texts and messages on ansafones have their purposes. Phone calls have other purposes.

My .

PS - enjoy your curry tonight!

That's what e-mail is for - neither party's expense

I've sent my reply by carrier pigeon.

PP

PH of the Day ... people who have no peripheral vision or ability to read the road ahead of them ... in particular the silly cow who, rather than wait an extra second, stepped into the narrow pathway with hedgecuttings all over the floor and the man with the hedge trimmer in his hand, just as I was approaching on my run ...

*surely they check their phones before they go to bed, at least?*

*Raises hand.* I don't.

This brings up one of my own petty hates. People who are so addicted to their cell phones that they, and I quote, "feel naked without it."