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Does Phone Ring When You Start An Activity?

Victory

Victory

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Jan 15, 2017
Messages
2,273
Location
London
I have noticed that on many occasions, within 10 seconds of starting an important activity, or a task, or sitting down at the computer to do something I had not been able to do until that point on that day, my phone will ring or I will receive a text message.

I do not receive too many calls or messages in a day.

The timing is uncanny.

As if there are certain points in time that something is destined to happen, but that what actually happens can be diverted by a force of distraction.
As if one wants to be on a particular cosmic path, but is then placed at a cosmic fork in the road.
To either continue the intended task, or to answer the phone at risk of not being able to complete the task in the timeframe you hoped.
And if the caller is stressed, it might disrupt one's own state of mind.

Have anyone noticed this?
 
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Guaranteed during the watching of a movie. I know the time frame is large (90 - 120 minutes or more) but I'd almost bet money on the phone ringing and it being our youngest son calling. It also doesn't matter whether we're watching in the afternoon, early evening or after dinner, he'll call. It's uncanny and I'm not trying to be amusing here, it truly happens 95% of the time.
As my wife and I work together, we rarely spend time apart, however, when we are, I can assure you that if I ever need to use the toilet, she will choose that moment to ring. Every, single time.
 
In my case my cat decides to have a shit when I start something important meaning I have to stop and clean his toilet.

Particularly annoying when I have just sat down at my piano with a head full of inspiration to compose something only to find it gone when I return!
 
My mother is the expert at doing that to me. Start reading, watching a movie or having lunch I can guarantee within 10 seconds she'll call.
"Am I interrupting anything?" (The other standard opening if I don't answer halfway through the first ring: "Were you sleeping?")
"I just started reading/watching a movie/eating lunch/painting the hall etc"
"Oh that's okay, you weren't doing anything then."
 
Lord Lucan said:
Guaranteed during the watching of a movie. I know the time frame is large (90 - 120 minutes or more) but I'd almost bet money on the phone ringing and it being our youngest son calling. It also doesn't matter whether we're watching in the afternoon, early evening or after dinner, he'll call. It's uncanny and I'm not trying to be amusing here, it truly happens 95% of the time.
As my wife and I work together, we rarely spend time apart, however, when we are, I can assure you that if I ever need to use the toilet, she will choose that moment to ring. Every, single time.
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The toilet thing really annoys me. On the rare occasions I am actually expecting a call, a quick dash to the loo without fail precipitates the caller phoning at that moment. It's no longer funny.
 
Bigphoot2 said:
My mother is the expert at doing that to me. Start reading, watching a movie or having lunch I can guarantee within 10 seconds she'll call.
"Am I interrupting anything?" (The other standard opening if I don't answer halfway through the first ring: "Were you sleeping?")
"I just started reading/watching a movie/eating lunch/painting the hall etc"
"Oh that's okay, you weren't doing anything then."
Click to expand...
Ah but mothers are renowned for dismissing anything YOU do, much more important for them to impart their pearls of wisdom immediately and at wholly inappropriate times. Bless 'em.
 
Mine will ring every time I-

Try to perform a tricky or tight manoeuvre at work(trying to get a 32-ton tipper into a tight space)

Have my hands up to the elbows in the washing-up.

Am excitedly waiting to have a call from someone I WANT to talk to.

Use my phone to do a FB Live music video. So that 3 minutes in, the VRRRRP-VRRRRRP vibrate tone gets broadcast along with which ever instrument I'm playing.

When I just lift one leg over the bath to shower/bathe.

Just as I'm picking up a basket when I walk into the supermarket. Likewise when I'm about to pay for my stuff.

Once, quite a long time ago when I was 22, I was piping at a funeral and I'm stood at the graveside and my phone started to ring out in my sporran. I'd forgotten to switch it off. It was the loud Nokia 8210 and the tune was the Inspector Gadget theme. All people could do was laugh!
 
heisenbear said:
Mine will ring every time I-

Try to perform a tricky or tight manoeuvre at work(trying to get a 32-ton tipper into a tight space)

Have my hands up to the elbows in the washing-up.

Am excitedly waiting to have a call from someone I WANT to talk to.

Use my phone to do a FB Live music video. So that 3 minutes in, the VRRRRP-VRRRRRP vibrate tone gets broadcast along with which ever instrument I'm playing.

When I just lift one leg over the bath to shower/bathe.

Just as I'm picking up a basket when I walk into the supermarket. Likewise when I'm about to pay for my stuff.

Once, quite a long time ago when I was 22, I was piping at a funeral and I'm stood at the graveside and my phone started to ring out in my sporran. I'd forgotten to switch it off. It was the loud Nokia 8210 and the tune was the Inspector Gadget theme. All people could do was laugh!
Click to expand...
I imagine the warmth of a newly charged phone battery can be a life saver when placed in a sporran on a cold day
 
heisenbear said:
Mine will ring every time I-

Try to perform a tricky or tight manoeuvre at work(trying to get a 32-ton tipper into a tight space)

Have my hands up to the elbows in the washing-up.

Am excitedly waiting to have a call from someone I WANT to talk to.

Use my phone to do a FB Live music video. So that 3 minutes in, the VRRRRP-VRRRRRP vibrate tone gets broadcast along with which ever instrument I'm playing.

When I just lift one leg over the bath to shower/bathe.

Just as I'm picking up a basket when I walk into the supermarket. Likewise when I'm about to pay for my stuff.

Once, quite a long time ago when I was 22, I was piping at a funeral and I'm stood at the graveside and my phone started to ring out in my sporran. I'd forgotten to switch it off. It was the loud Nokia 8210 and the tune was the Inspector Gadget theme. All people could do was laugh!
Click to expand...

You should have set it to vibrate...:wink2:
 
Things like this do seem to happen much more than can be blamed on chance,
maybe our brain gives off a signal as in ESP sort of thing when we have something on our
minds that heightens our brain activity, this is then picked up by people that are
in someway connected to us and prompts them to think of us,
Before caller display was in use I had a habit of answering a call with the callers name,
I was right probably 80% or more of the time, it quite unnerved one or two callers, these
were regular callers, and maybe they tended to call at the same time, I don't know what
triggered it but it worried the sister in law, I seem to have lost it now maybe due to age
or caller display making it redundant.
 
Every time my mother calls it is an inopportune moment - sitting on the toilet, the first bite of dinner, just when company has arrived etc. But then I thought that maybe I just live a hectic life and I don't have any "good times" to call.

But during this Corona thing I have had much, much less to do. And she still manages to find the times when I'm unavailable (up a ladder painting, receiving a delivery, in the middle of baking etc).

It's rather remarkable.
 
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Despite having a pee before doing any car maintenance as soon as the hands are covered in black grease the bladder will need emptying...:headbang:
 
PeteS said:
The toilet thing really annoys me. On the rare occasions I am actually expecting a call, a quick dash to the loo without fail precipitates the caller phoning at that moment. It's no longer funny.
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That's why you have a mobile handset or get a phone next to the loo.
 
I always try to call my friends at a time when I think they may not be doing anything crucial, such as eating a meal.
However, with one friend in particular - Brian - I always seem to call at a time when they're cooking or eating a meal. For example, I'll call after 8 pm because nobody is eating then - but no, Brian will have just tucked into a meal. I keep telling him off for this because eating so late is bad for the digestion (and in fact he does have digestive problems, wonder why). He and his family are vegetarians, so they take an inordinately long time to prepare and cook their food - maybe that's the explanation?
I'm a creature of regular habits, so I always eat my lunch between 12 and 1 pm and my evening meal between 6 and 7 pm. I rarely deviate from this. My friends know this, so they rarely call at those times.
 
Bigphoot2 said:
I had a phone call from someone which was punctuated by the occasional groans. grunts, gasps and splashes. I kept asking if he was okay and he said he was fine now. Then I heard the toilet flush.
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Yeah. That's just wrong - not doing your business before calling someone. Taking a call while on the loo, on the other hand, is allowed. Because you can't predict that someone will call you while you're on the bog.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Yeah. That's just wrong - not doing your business before calling someone. Taking a call while on the loo, on the other hand, is allowed. Because you can't predict that someone will call you while you're on the bog.
Click to expand...

Still make me cringe though.
:freak::omr:
 
During the early stages of the lockdown the nuisance spam calls dropped right off.
Unfortunately now they have recommenced and usually come when I'm making something messy for dinner.
Sometimes I get so annoyed when " Nicole from the NBN" or "Amazon" ring several times in a short time that I put the phone down without clicking it off to hopefully stop them phoning out for awhile.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Yeah. That's just wrong - not doing your business before calling someone. Taking a call while on the loo, on the other hand, is allowed. Because you can't predict that someone will call you while you're on the bog.
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I've only ever done that once. It was the first and only time I ever worked in a call centre.
 
Bloody hell - I just had a call from the Ear Hospital which I was expecting some time today - they'd written to me saying don't attend a pre-arranged appointment, we'll phone you on the day instead, & what happened, I immediately had the urgent need for a crap! Sod's Law.

Managed to keep the discussion going with minimal [I think] intrusion.
 
I sometimes passively watch TV if my wife is watching it. Although not watching it, there is usually a point at which I want to hear something specific on said programme (even though I'm not bothered). At which point my wife either coughs or calls the dog over.

It shouldn't but it really niggles me, but not enough to say something. I find it strange to be honest and I find it hard to write a description.
 
Spudrick68 said:
I sometimes passively watch TV if my wife is watching it. Although not watching it, there is usually a point at which I want to hear something specific on said programme (even though I'm not bothered). At which point my wife either coughs or calls the dog over.

It shouldn't but it really niggles me, but not enough to say something. I find it strange to be honest and I find it hard to write a description.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is very odd.

After problems with break-ins in the past, I sleep very badly. And I have found that if I think I have heard something, and am trying to concentrate on hearing (or not) again, my wife will start snoring or grinding her teeth; it never fails.

Spooky.
 
Spudrick68 said:
I sometimes passively watch TV if my wife is watching it. Although not watching it, there is usually a point at which I want to hear something specific on said programme (even though I'm not bothered). At which point my wife either coughs or calls the dog over.

It shouldn't but it really niggles me, but not enough to say something. I find it strange to be honest and I find it hard to write a description.
Click to expand...
Try not to give yourself away.
 
Yes, SWMBO oft will choose that moment when something interesting finally happens to commence conversation (and oft she's been playing with her mobile while "watching"). Worse, she loves to decide right in the midst of an action sequence it's time to go wash up for bed. Just wait for a commercial!
My parents do seem to call when I'm amidst prepping dinner, then grumble even though I always call back after eats. Text first to check!

And of co-workers at the last place, there were a bevy of them that would take up the sit-down toilets whilst talking or tapping on the phone. (Ick). It guess this would be the opposite case. Never quite ginned up the courage to call them out; wanted to post a sign behind each door with "This is not a phone booth."
 
My aunt Midgie was known to be psychic. She was banned from games of charades in her youth because you would, apparently, stand up, make the sign for book, and she would sing out the title you were about to mime. When she was a senior and I lived a reasonable ways away from her, she only called, 100% of the time, when I had just stepped into the shower. She didn't always call when I was in the shower, but when she called, I was. I asked her to resist her inclination to call me and wait half and hour but she thought the request ridiculous.
 
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