Vent: please don't call at 6:30am

[mcgeiger]

unless somone is dead or dying...
This is just a vent, and I don't expect anyone to do anything...I just know people here will listen.
Finals start tomorrow :eek: and I have been studying non-stop for about a week. My dad and I are planning a trip in March, and he might be considered detailed oriented. The seats on our flight opened up for booking this week, and between computers being uncooperative, classes and studying I just haven't got that far yet. He emailed my yesterday to ask why I hadn't yet, and I said I was busy and he could book it if he wanted to for me. He called me this morning at 6:30am, my only day to sleep in on until finals are over (which will also be my birthday--no tests that day :p ) to ask me whether I wanted an aisle or a window. I don't care where the (*&%$ my seat is right now, as long as do well on my finals! Then he asks me what my legal name is to book something else, I've been married for 5+ years and I wrote it down and emailed it to him over Thanksgiving break... :mad: There is absolutley no reason that this call couldn't have waited until a reasonable hour or by email...urgh....
I just wish my family understood I am in MEDICAL school--whether or not it's for humans is irrelevant--and it's hard, time-consuming, and my life is required to run on schools schedule (this comment is also related to the fact that over a week of my break will be spent in STL--yet this is not enough, why can't I come "home" for the whole break?)
I would be more tolerable of this if I wasn't exausted...anyway, vent over, thanks for listening...

[1MegMeg]

I empathize completely! I am in graduate school and I have found that people who are either a) not in school or b) haven't completed higher education just don't entirely "get it".

Good luck on your finals!!!

[Laura B]

Ugh! My MIL used to call really early on Saturdays. She wakes up at 5:30, and I swear she just sits and watches the clock until she can call DH. :rolleyes: We have put a stop to it and now she knows better than to call before 11:00 or so on weekends. All she was doing was disturbing a little weekend sleep-in, I cannot imagine how mad I would be in your situation! You must be so exhausted. Good luck with your finals!

[ellielk]

Is he in a different time zone? ;)

[GingerPow]

My daughter tells me Mom you never call me! I always tell her that SHE is the one in school with lots of work and a busy schedule. If I need to talk with her, I call her at the end of the day, around dinner time.
The funny thing is that usually parents and their college/grad school age kids are on two different schedules. I am asleep by 10 - 11 p.m. & which is the shank of the evening for DD. I get up at 6 a.m. which she would consider the middle of the night! :D

[BarbaraL]

Hope the vent helped, you got back to sleep, and your finals go well. There's nothing more aggravating than being disturbed during the little time you have for yourself! I went to graduate school at night (after working full-time all day). After that, I worked full-time, then was a wife and mother when I got home at night. It was really irritating when relatives & friends (who didn't work outside the home or were retired) got grumpy that I wasn't available to help with or attend the event-of-the-moment, on a moment's notice. They just didn't get it. I've also found that older people frequently are early risers, and don't remember that the rest of the world is still asleep (or awake but not functioning!). Conversely, younger people who stay up until 1 am forget that working people don't appreciate calls at midnight. Can you tell I've been the recipient of both types of calls?

Your dad was probably just excited about your trip, and wanted to make sure you had the seat you wanted; or was afraid of making a mistake. I hope you enjoy your trip with him. My mom used to aggravate me with equally silly things. She passed away in June, and now I"d give anything to have those aggravations, if I could have her back.

[whocares]

Getting woken up like that is a total pain. I have learned to turn the ringer off on the phone in my bedroom and make sure all of the doors between the bedroom and other phone are closed. That way, if the phone rings either very early or very late, we won't get woken up. I figure if it is an emergency, I will find out about it in the morning.

[Beth]

I hate being woken up by the phone too. jhn (that was my cat stepping on the keyboard so she could get in my lap for an adoration and warm up session -- tha dainty one. The big girl wouldn't get in my lap, but she probably could have sent this message around the world in five languages before she made the crossing -- either that or break the keyboard).

I don't know how old you dad is, but as our parents get older, smaller things -- details, can fill their minds and their days. I hope you can get some rest, and realize that he called because he is thinking about you and wanting to make this trip a special a very special time with a daughter he must love very much and be very proud of. Take the phone off the hook and try to take a nap. I'll send you restful, confident and successful thoughts (as will others, I'm sure). You'll get through it, maybe even laugh about it later.

The kitty in my lap just said her too. ;)

[Jasmine-Rose]

I can certainly understand your irritation at being disturbed at such an early hour when you really needed the sleep. I hope you'll be able to catch up soon and the irritation will fade quickly. I'm glad you have us when you need to vent like this - much better than blowing up at dear old Dad.

I don't mean to diminish your feelings about this, but I agree with Beth's comment about lives being filled up with attention to small details. My Mum passed away in May and now Dad is alone in their home, far from family and loved ones. He has called me at work with urgent questions about how many hamburgers he should make from a pound of ground beef, whether to use the measuring cup for liquids or solids to measure catsup, how long he should bake the meatballs as they are smaller than what the recipe called for, etc. During this transition from life with the woman of his dreams, to life without her, he struggles to fill his time so he doesn't dwell on the heartache. I'm happy to take those calls, whether they come at 6:00am or during the chaos of my work day.

I realize that your frustration comes from too much pressure and too little sleep, and that's understandable. I hope you'll soon have less of the former and more of the latter :) :) :) .

[tperes]

Good luck with finals mcgeiger!
Once we had a customer service person from Verizon Wireless call us at 11:15 PM, on a weeknight! We let the answering machine picked up, but were really shocked they would call so late. And yes, they probably would be in a different time zone, but since we it was a customer-service related problem (vs. a telemarketing call), you would think they would know by the area code that we were in EST. UGH!

And Jasmine-Rose, your post made me tear up! I am so sad for your dad, and glad that he has you around to be his personal help hotline! (and I don't even know either of you!)

[generic]

Things like this can be so upsetting when you're desperate for your rest. Like you said, you'd be more tolerant and consider it "minor" if you hadn't been so exhausted. I hope your finals go well. It takes a lot of determination to get through med school.
A few years ago I was working 2 jobs, one part time and one full time. One of my girlfriends used to call me just before 7:00 am on Saturday mornings. The first day I got to sleep in after an exhausting week. Her attitude was always, "You're STILL in bed at 7:00 am?!!!!" Not that she would use those words, but she could not understand why ANYONE would stay in bed that "late." She had usually been up for a couple of hours by the time she called me, so it was like mid-day for her! :D

[beckms]

Dude. If you call me before 8am or after midnight, my heart will jump into my throat and I'll assume someone died or was in an accident. And if this happens during finals or before a test (when is it NOT before a test these days???), and you are one of DF's drunk friends, you will incur the Wrath.

I hear ya. I frequently have to remind myself that there is life outside of vet school (see Jasmine-Rose's post), and not everybody out there has my test schedule at the forefront of their minds all the time.

Even though they should. (some of you may recall my ire last spring when a friend of ours had the nerve to have his wedding on a Friday during finals. I ranted for a while on that one! And then I looked at what I was becoming, got scared, and promptly bought a plane ticket for the wedding. And had a blast.)

I have two hours to finish my Zoological Medicine take home exam (and it's going to be close, people...), and then I will commence cramming for my Small Animal final on Monday. Should we take bets? 300 pages of material in three days? No PROBLEM.

Good luck, mcgeiger! :cool:

[badunnin]

If someone is phoning me that early it better darn well mean that there is a snow day. ;)

Good luck on your exams!

[DeeK]

Not before 9 ...not after 9 (so says Emily Post).

If you call me (non-emergency) before or after 9 you get to hear what I have to say. You probably won't enjoy it.

[funnybone]

My FIL still does that - calls every Sunday morning at 7 am (it's 8 am where he lives). We just don't answer it. DH has asked him not to call that early, but it's in one ear ...... Generally we are up, but we just don't want to be on the phone at that time.

[Paula H]

Man, I don't even have an exams and I still get grumpy/frantic if someone phones me before 9:30!! Okay, so I'm not a morning person...

Good luck with your finals!

[MKSquared]

I get a phone call every morning by 6:30 AM. Ahhh, the joys of subbing ...

[HejazSunKat]

If people are busy, sleeping or just don't feel like talking why do they answer the phone? If you don't want it to wake you - shut it off. Isn't this what we have answering machines for? Very few things in life are so urgent that they can't wait an hour or two until I'm available or willing to return the call. I hate talking on the phone and I won't jump up from whatever I'm doing like one of Pavlov's dogs just because a bell rings. If I really want/need some peace and quiet the world can just tap it's impatient little foot until I'm ready for them.

[beckms]

If people are busy, sleeping or just don't feel like talking why do they answer the phone? If you don't want it to wake you - shut it off. Isn't this what we have answering machines for? Very few things in life are so urgent that they can't wait an hour or two until I'm available or willing to return the call. I hate talking on the phone and I won't jump up from whatever I'm doing like one of Pavlov's dogs just because a bell rings. If I really want/need some peace and quiet the world can just tap it's impatient little foot until I'm ready for them.

Linda--every night I almost turn off my phone, and then I worry that it'll be the one time there's an actual emergency. :rolleyes: Also, I frequently forget to turn my phone back on if I've turned it off. Argh.

But I'm with you, in general...I rarely answer the phone unless I really feel like talking.

[bensdad]

Answering Machine and caller ID. need I say more? :p

[Cookin4Love]

For us, it's just the opposite. Call at 6:00 a.m. Call at 5:00 a.m. Call at 4:00 a.m. But don't you DARE call us after 7:45 at night! One night, our phone rang at 8:00, and our response was, "Who in the He!! is calling us in the middle of the night???" :p

[HejazSunKat]

Linda--every night I almost turn off my phone, and then I worry that it'll be the one time there's an actual emergency. :rolleyes: Also, I frequently forget to turn my phone back on if I've turned it off. Argh.


LOL...and the world didn't come to an end because your phone was off! :D Whoever was trying to reach you probably tried at least 3 other numbers they have for you and were very upset that they couldn't talk to you right now. What a delicious little rebellion it is to just opt out now and then. :D Really, it's the electronic leash isn't it? I already feel like I can never get enough done without having to answer the phone when it's not convenient for me. Certainly there are people who for whatever reason find it important to be reachable at all times - somebody who's got a teenager with a driver's license, a family member deployed overseas...a million different reasons but for the most part I can count on one hand the times I've gotten one of 'those calls'. I feel comfortable that 99% of the time my phone rings with nonsense that surely can wait until I'm willing to deal with it.

[GingerPow]

Then he asks me what my legal name is to book something else, I've been married for 5+ years and I wrote it down and emailed it to him over Thanksgiving break... :mad:

My father was filling out insurance forms last spring, and called my husband at work to ask him my social security number. I'm 48 years old, I had it memorized at 12.
This is the same father that would not pay for my college, because I would only get married someday and that money would be wasted. He matter-of-factly passed this on to my husband a few years ago, and did not seem to notice the expression on my DH's face. :eek:

[Peweh]

Ah, McGeiger, I share your wrath! I'm SO not a morning person and I think regardless of your status as a student, working person, or happily unemployed zillionaire there is no reason someone needs to call you at that hour. I agree with the post about Emily Post, not before 9 AM and not after 9 PM. I also agree with people posting about maybe your dad's just excited, some years from now when he's not around you'll wish he could call even at 6 AM, but don't let that make you feel bad. 6:30 is still unreasonable! Maybe you could tell him, please don't call that early... lucky me, apparently I am THAT grumpy in the morning (they're still scared from when I was 14!) they won't call before 11! Ha.

[badunnin]

I had 2 calls before 6:15am today - life is good. ;)

[olchik]

Oh....I feel very sorry for you, hun! It must be very hard to go to medical school, your parents should understand you and let you sleep as many hours as possible. The more we sleep the healthier we are!

[BarbaraL]

If someone is phoning me that early it better darn well mean that there is a snow day. ;)

Good luck on your exams!

Waah! I just realized this was the first snowy morning in years that I didn't get a call at 5:30 am or thereabouts. . . the call being from the school as part of the phone chain. Now that DD is in college, those days are gone for good!

Good luck on those exams, and enjoy the holidays when they're done.

[mcgeiger]

Thanks everyone for all the sympathy! I know my Dad is excited about the trip (me too--Thailand for a week!), but is was just the thing to break the camel's back for this week...
Thanks for the wishes on exams too-1 down, 3 to go...

[Beth]

Sometimes it really is that last little thing that pushes you over the edge. Good thing it wasn't something bigger from somebody you don't love and care about. That could have been ugly and you may have vented at that person rather than friends. ;)

Glad you got one exam down. Hope it went well. Take a breather and chip away -- one more at a time. Best of luck on them all.

[hollysmom]

This was my mon's trick - if she couldn't find us in the dorm or our 'single-graduated-moved-out' apartment during the week---she would call at 6:30 on Saturday morning. We learned to call her back during the week really quickly!

SSM