Mary Killen Mary Killen

Your Problems Solved | 31 May 2003

Etiquette advice from The Spectator's Miss Manners

issue 31 May 2003

Dear Mary…

Q. A friend of mine has a maddening habit. She rings me from her mobile saying urgently, ‘Can you ring me straight back?’ then hangs up. Clearly she believes that it is much cheaper for me to ring her mobile from my landline than vice versa. This may or may not be the case – who has the time to read leaflets from the telephone companies and work it out? – but if she wants to talk to me, usually just idle chatter, then my feeling is that she should pay. Am I right, Mary? Or have I gone quite mad?
P. de Z., London NW3

A. Why not turn all this pricing confusion to your advantage? Next time you talk to your friend, extract from her the promise that, as soon as she gets home, she will look up her latest mobile-telephone bill and find out what billing programme she is on.

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