Meet me at Starbucks tomorrow afternoon

I would never schedule a physical meeting for “Sometime Tomorrow Afternoon.” Don’t do it over the phone unless you want to play phone tag. Send this article to people if they don’t get the message.

Have you ever had trouble meeting someone on the phone? If your experience is like mine, this has happened to you many times in your life. You call someone and leave them a message and they do the same and sometimes it happens 8-10 times before they are both finally available at the same time. Many of us call this phone tag. Would you like phone etiquette to occur much less often or maybe even hardly ever?

For comparison, let’s think about what happens when we plan to meet someone in person. We communicate in person or by phone or by Skype or even by email (or by post!) To schedule a time when we will meet at Starbucks, for example. We decide on a certain time and meet there. Most of the time, these meetings go smoothly. (For you fans, I don’t consider someone being 5 minutes late a “problem”.) Sometimes one person or another makes a mistake and the meeting starts too late or the meeting doesn’t take place.

This is what NEVER happens:

Lucille calls Paul and says, “See you at Starbucks tomorrow.” Paul says “When is a good time for you?”
Then Lucille replies “Sometime tomorrow afternoon.” Paul responds: “Sounds good to me. See you there!” The next day, Paul goes to Starbucks (which is next to Barnes and Noble), sits down with a book at 12:01, and waits for Lucille to arrive. Paul waits patiently until 3:15 when Lucille shows up and they have their happy and productive reunion.

Have you ever done what Paul and Lucille did? Neither do I.

However, many people operate that way with the phone (or Skype and the like) EVERYTHING. TEA. WEATHER. Do you like to play phone tag? (Me neither, so I prefer to keep it to a minimum with just friends and family!) What do you do about it? One solution: make a phone appointment.

I would never set the time for an in-person meeting for “Sometime Tomorrow Afternoon.” So don’t do that with phone calls.

Use them to reach an agreement:

What time is good for you? However, I have these three schedules available, which one works for you?

Or even why don’t you let me know two or three times when you’re available and I’ll pick one?

If you have someone who seems reluctant to set a meeting time on the phone, tell them about Paul and Lucille. Better yet, email them this article.