Our machine is set for four rings and we leave it on all the time. But more often than not, I have our cordless phone with me and I catch it on the first or second ring. When I call someone, though, I let it ring at least ten times, sometimes twelve. Whoever I'm calling might not have an answering machine or cordless phone. There is nothing more aggravating than to be in the middle of something, have to put it down, make a run for the phone, and pick it up just in time to hear the "click" of someone hanging up.

When I worked for the phone company (as an operator), they kept telling us to ask the customer right after the fourth ring if they wanted to continue letting it ring. If so, "challenge" them again after the seventh ring. The idea here was not good service, but to get the customer off the line if it looked like there might not be a answer so you could move on to the next customer. AWT--Average Work Time--(the average number of seconds you spent with each customer) was a crucial number in your monthly performance evaluation. Too high an AWT could get you a reprimand. Nice.

Don Firth