half listening

Well, some people just don't know how to talk to others. If she was watching a movie/tv she should have said it was a bad time and call later. Maybe she didn't want to make you feel bad by telling you she was busy. What she didn't understand though, was that it was much more rude to half-listen. I don't think your friend meant any harm, she just may be the kind of person who can't say no or feels guilty for putting you off. She couldn't have known you were having a super busy day when you called unless you told her. Plus, you said she had been really sick. It's very possible she was not back to her normal self and really wanted to be left alone. Maybe you should look at it like this: she didn't ignore your phone call and let it go to voicemail. This time, I would just let it go. Some friendly advice-- don't do it to her out of revenge like you mentioned. After you've gotten over your strong feelings about this, let her know very sincerely and politely that it hurt your feelings when she wasn't listening. She will respect you for being upfront.

I know that it can be frustrating when you want someone to pay attention to you and they seem aloof or distracted and you are not even sure if they heard a word you have said. This has happened to me quite a few times in my life. I don't really think that you are being oversensitive at all. You are human and have feelings. I believe in treating people the way that I would like to be treated. With respect!

It really bothers me when people do this. It's so rude. If you are unavailable or not in the mood for a telephone conversation, there are options. You let the call go to voicemail, you just don't answer at all or you do answer and let the person know that it's not a convenient time for the call and that you'll call them back when you have time to chat. It's NOT hard to be polite. People rarely get offended by honesty. When I've been in the position of having someone not pay attention to the conversation, I've simply said, "Well it seems that I've caught you at a bad time and you aren't really able to chat right now. I'll let you go and we can talk at a time that's better for you." Usually what happens is that the person instantly feels guilty and embarrassed at "being caught" not paying attention and they will try like anything to tell you "no no no! it's FINE... I was just distracted for a minute by (fill in the blank here... the kid, the dog, the mailman, the sink overflowing... LOL)" I still don't continue the conversation because that would just condone the behavior.

Did you interrupt her while she was watching a movie? She was probably thinking how rude of you to call when she was busy. Perhaps next time, you could ask if she was busy, before you started asking questions. If you want to have friends, you have to be a friend. Would a true friend want to "do it to a friend?" I can't see why your friend should be appreciative - you called at your convenience not her's, just as she was enjoying a movie.

i'm like your friend. i like to multi-task and do more than one thing at a time. i do that sometimes. i watch tv while i'm on the phone or i'm on the internet while talking. i didn't really think that i would bother anyone if i did that. but i now know how someone would feel. by any chance your friend is a Leo or Sagittarius?

I do have friends, colleagues, relatives who do the same thing. But frankly speaking I do the same thing too sometimes when I'm busy. I don't know about your friend but in a busy schedule, it happens that you need to do multi-tasking and prioritize situations at the same moment. At that moment such incidents can happen. Best thing to do is when you are free to revert back to the caller.