Telephone etiquette

I just realized that this is more and more difficult to teach anyone about the proper manners of telephone conversations.

In the past, where there exists nothing called "caller ID", picking up the phone was easy, just say "hello" and then expect the caller to ask for the person s/he was calling. Now that we have that caller display, it's almost an expected politeness to address the caller by the time we pick up the phone. At least I don't see people on the street not doing that when they pick up the phone.

And then there are these annoying telemarketers.

A good parent should have taught their kids how to politely end the call. The way I did it, was to hang up as soon as I know it's not a solicited call.

My kids don't seem to get the idea.

These telemarketing calls go like this in Hong Kong:

Caller: Hello, is this the telephone number XXXXXXXX?

or

Hello, is that Miss XX?

or

Hello, can I speak to Miss XX?

I told FB that if someone calls like scenario number 1, hang up without handing the phone. Out of 10 times, he did 8 wrong. He thought that if someone can tell the phone number, then the call must be solicited. I still have to explain to him how that is not, but with that kind of response rate, I am pretty sure he has no clue what I'm talking about.

Scenarios 2 and 3 are even more difficult, but hey, no one call me by those names. I'm not looking for a job so I am not expecting anyone to call me that.

May be it is still too soon to consider FB mature enough to handle these calls?