Hey, Jeff McNeil was on my case today, man. He says I answer the phone like this: "Hello?" What I ought to do, McNeil claims, is answer the phone like this: "Hello!" I contend that answering a phone is like hearing someone come in the front door while you're upstairs. You say, "Hello?" You want to know who's there, if anyone. Friend or foe? You're not committing. Likewise, "Hello?" is a searching, intellectual way to answer the phone. The fact that we do not have "caller ID" may play into this. McNeil prefers the forceful, jocular greeting: "Hello!" In fact, he demands it. Demands it! We need the "blog" readers to decide who's right. I know I am right. And no amount of "blog"-gathered evidence will convince McNeil he is wrong. Like so much in life, this "post" is futile. Yet here it is.
