TIT FOR TAT BUT DEFINITELY NO CHAT


It was a dead Wednesday afternoon and I was blissfully cooking dinner for Leah, who incidentally is right now flying to Boston for a 5-week training, and hubby Eder, when the phone rang...

ME: Hello.

UNCOUTH CALLER: Did anybody call?

ME: Excuse me?

UC: Did anybody call?... just now, call?

ME: Please give me a minute and I'll check.

I put down the phone really gently, placed my hand on my mouse and clicked on a friend's website. I read her most recent post, wrote my comment and pondered on whether I've made the uncouth caller wait long enough. Deciding I haven't, I got up, went to the kitchen and checked my pot roast, tested the sauce for thickness and went back to the phone.

ME: Hello, what can I do for you?

UC: I want to know if anybody called laaah. Waited so long already...!!!

ME: Oh, sorry but I don't think anybody called you. See, you're calling my house and there's just me in here.

UC: Then why did you make me wait so long?!?

ME: I was waiting... for you to remember to identify yourself. Since you couldn't seem to be bothered, then no... I don't think anybody from here will call you.

And I replaced the phone on the cradle... really gently like I did 5 minutes ago. No reason to add more insult to the innocent gadget.

I guess I could have made it a lot easier for both of us if I'd just told her she probably got the wrong number. But where does she come off, bothering me, or anybody else for that matter, in the middle of an ungodly hour, when in all possibility people could have been taking an afternoon nap, without the courtesy of a proper greeting and the civility of identifying who I was talking to?

I guess my pot roast simmered down a lot sooner than the uncouth caller did. Well, didn't they say... don't get mad, get even?