The Hangup

Ever want to hang up on someone but you cannot because it would be unseemly and lead to other problems more difficult than just hearing it out? Try this. Once I had an irate parent on the phone who was carrying on like a banshee. She was really pissed because I had unintentionally called her by her name in Polish … the end of names was once done with an a for a female … for example, Mr. Wolinski and Mrs. Wolinska. She informed me that I was treating her “like a DP” and she went on half in English, half in Polish. After the third or fourth go-round of the same crappola, after my abject apology for treating her “like a Displaced Person,” I needed to move on. So, I began speaking in an animated fashion and hung up on myself. She had no idea what happened to the connection and would never consider that a person would hang up in the middle of their own diatribe. When she called back, my secretary picked up and said that I was out of the office. Fini.