What's the polite time to phone someone in the evening?

[AnyDream]

What is the polite time to ring someone in the evening? Are you supposed to anticipate they are bathing children, preparing dinner or eating dinner and if so, during what time bracket. Esp if it is someone you don't know very well, an acquaintance rather than a good friend or family member?

[Babyluv]

I usually try not to call ppl between 6 & 7 and then no later than 9 on a weeknight.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

I don't have an actual set time, as long as its no later than 8pm (for me to be ringing, if someone rings me it doesn't bother me), but the first thing I'd say is, 'Is it alright that I've rung now/Do you have a few minutes/Am I interrupting you?' - there's really no sure way to know that you're calling at a safe time, people have different routines y'know?

[Rouge]

Honestly I think you can't know what each individual arsenic hour is unless you know them well. So I would call and say "Is this a bad time? If so I can call back later." It irks me when people get annoyed because you call at the "wrong time" every house has a different wrong time and I'm no psychic. I'd rather people be up front and just say "this is a bad time" and either give me a time to call back or call me back at a time better suited.

But as a rule of thumb I try not to call people between 5-7:30...

[Cassius2]

I try to call between 7.30 and 8.30pm...

[LimeSlice]

No later than 8.30 and not between 6-7.30.

Perhaps call a mobile number if you have one, that way they can see who it is a screen if they are too busy and you can leave a message.

[Joeve]

Yes what Limeslice said!

[Ginger]

yeah i reckon from 7.30pm-8.30pm is ok...

[MistyFying]

I try not to ring after 9pm. We have phone calls at all times of the night - our single friends are the ones who tend to call after 9.30pm and our elderly friends usually call before 7am

[Kazbah]

I have the rule of thumb not 6-6:30 (news) and not after 8pm. I also expect that people will make their own judgement about answering the phone - we have a "no calls answered" during meals, or tell me to either be quick or they'll call back later.

[Liviam]

I try to call between 7.30 and 8.30pm...

:yeahthat:

[AwesomeFoursome]

I try to call between 7.30 and 8.30pm...

:yeahthat:

[Janie]

I would usually try not to call between 5.30 and 7.30pm, and not after 9pm. Though I don't mind people calling me during those times! I just feel rude if I do it myself, in case they're too polite to tell me to rack off

[*Beema*]

Generally between 7:30-9pm here, my family we call until around 9:30pm, but usually after that we only call if it is an emergency/of v important news/previously agreed that we are calling later at night. DD doesn't go to be until 8-8:30pm so we always tell people to call after that otherwise she wants to talk on the phone and gets really upset when we have to hang it up

[deletedit]

I'm going to narrow that range to 7:30-8pm just to be anally retentive :P

[Astrolady]

as a consultant I only ring people between 7 & 8pm. Family & friends I know well I ring whenever.

[Bathsheba]

I usually wait until about 8pm if they have kids. I don't call between 5 and 7.30pm to cover all news time slots. I watch the ABC news and that starts at 7pm... most of our relatives do too.

I always ask people "is this a good time?" no matter who they are or what time.

[My Three Sons]

Yeah i would say 7.30-8.30.
But certainly as bathsheba says, asking at the start of the call if it is a good time is good.