Introducing the “dropped call” protocol

Posted on Oct 19, 2010 in Misc. | 2 comments

We’ve all been there. You’re on a phone call with someone and suddenly the call is dropped. No huge deal of course—such is life in the era of cell phones. But who should call whom back, and when?

It is a simple question to which no one seems to have the answer. Without a clear protocol on this subject, one of the following scenarios usually occurs:

1. Each person immediately calls the other person back, resulting in both people ending up in the other’s voicemail system.
2. Each person assumes the other will re-initiate the call and so both people wait and become annoyed.
3. Someone gets through to the other person and spends the first 15 to 30 seconds explaining the circumstances that might have led to the dropped call (“Oh, I was driving through this dead zone…” or “Do you think it was my phone, or maybe yours?).

None of these is a great way to handle a dropped call. To resolve this issue, I introduce the dropped-call protocol:

If a call you are on is dropped, the person who initiated the call is responsible to call back. The other party should simply wait.

There you have it. Seems simple to me and should be easy to remember, unlike one friend’s idea on the subject, which he offered me recently after our call had dropped and we ended up in situation #2 from the list above. ”You were talking when we cut out,” he informed me, “so you should have called me back.” I can see where he’s coming from, but it’s complicated: dropped calls are often preceded by poor reception anyway, and so both parties may be talking without the other realizing it. That’s why the dropped-call protocol above is, I believe, the best way to handle the situation?

What do you think? Am I right, or way off base? Leave you thoughts in the comments… at least those don’t get cut off mid-sentence.

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