Making phone calls---was I disruptive?

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I'm totally freaking out right now. I'm sure I probably sound really neurotic worrying like this, but I'm afraid I might have behaved wrong and I would hate to come across badly.



This afternoon, I gave my voice teacher a ring and asked him whether we could have a lesson on Tuesday (we usually have our lessons on Thursdays, but my dad is going to be away in the latter part of the week and won't be able to drive me).

I made the call on my dad's cell phone, because mine wasn't charged. My teacher said it wasn't a good day for him because he had a performance in the afternoon, so we ended up scheduling our lesson for 2:00 on Monday.


About 25 minutes upon hanging up, I suddenly realized that I don't get out of my doctor's appointment until 2:30. So I called back and left a message on his answering machine explaining about it, and asking whether we could re-schedule to 3:00.


Later on, my dad went out to do some stuff, taking his cell phone with him.


This evening, I asked my dad whether he had called back about the schedule change. My dad said he didn't, and he told me not to call again, because it would be very disruptive.



Well now I'm all worried that I might have been disruptive. Because later on in the afternoon, I had actually called back again twice---but on my own cell phone. I mean, I didn't leave another message or anything. Was I being disruptive? Even if he didn't answer the phone? Could two missed calls be seen as bothering and disruptive?

Last edited by Silverweed on 02 Jan 2010, 10:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.

One thing I can tell you, Silverweed ...

Is that you're not alone. There've been plenty of times where I've hung up the phone, remembered something stupid but necessary that I forgot to ask, and had to call back to ask a quick question!

The trickier part for you is having borrowed your dad's cell phone, but methinks everything will work itself out just fine if given a little time.

I would hope that your voice teacher would understand needing to call twice about a schedule update. That said, leaving a message should normally be enough ... it's going just a little bit overboard to double- and triple-check to see whether the teacher got the message, especially if you haven't waited a couple or several days. To keep on calling back for a total of four calls the same afternoon might be seen as disruptive (it would be to me.)

An emergency situation would be different, of course.

Hope something in my rambling here made sense and can help you!

On cell phones, for multiple missed calls... does it say exactly when they were placed? Like, can you tell whether they were placed before or after a voice mail?


Oooh, I'm so worried now. I'm like, really afraid that I was bothering and disruptive. I could kick myself in the head.

I do stuff like this all the time , yes the calls were excessive for most people, but dont worry he will likely not be as upset as you imagine .

If this was someone you didn't know well, I could see how it would be considered disruptive. But seeing that this is your dad, I would think he should be a little more understanding.

No, no, no. It was my voice teacher I called. It was my dad's cell I used to leave a message. I later called back using my own cell (though I did not leave a message)

Ah, ok. Even so, this kind of thing happens when you're trying to book appointments. If you're not doing it all the time, I don't see why your teacher should be too annoyed.

By all the time, do you mean in general? Or as in, calling all the time in one day?

I *study* interactions a lot because I'm afraid of coming across badly. From what I've studied I would say your initial reactions to call back were fine. After you left the voicemail I could see calling one more time, hours later, if you hadn't heard back IF the appointment in question is for tomorrow. After all, in that case time is of the essence. If it was for next week, or even a couple days later, then I would have suggested waiting until the next day to follow up again.

I don't think the second call that night however was needed. BUT most people will just fluff it off unless this is an all the time thing (like every week you do this, always).

All in all, this isn't something to beat yourself up over.

As it turns out... the guy lost his cell phone, and he never got my voice mail/missed calls anyways!! ! I got all worried over nothing!! !


Phew.