“What fresh hell is this?”
September 25, 2008 By: almostgotit Category: Dorothy Parker, Uncategorized, humor, phone calls, working at homeA line attributed many times to Shakespeare but actually it’s from American author/critic/poet and wit Dorothy Parker. She is reported to have exclaimed “What fresh hell is this?” when her train of thought was interrupted by a telephone. She then started using it in place of “hello” when answering the phone or a knock at her door.In many ways she can be considered the patron saint of all tech support workers. (Hat Tip)
And patron saint, too, of all people who work at home — especially those of us who need to answer anyway in case it’s one of the kids.
Yeah I know: “Must get caller ID… “
September 26th, 2008 at 10:09 am
There goes Shakespeare, hogging all the credit as usual …
September 28th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
You could also get an answering machine that’s right in your own home and pick up only when the person leaving the message is someone you want to talk to. I LOATHE the phone ringing and seldom answer, regardless of who’s calling. Like Obama, I only want to talk to people at the time and place of my choosing. One of my favorite people ever — a certain Mrs. Cook — said in disgust about 30 years ago when I was over at her house and the phone rang at 7:30 pm: “who would call at this hour?” It was funny because it was a perfectly acceptable time to call and she knew it.