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Ask Amy: Phone’s ‘pocket dial’ rings the wrong number

Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

– Flummoxed

Dear Flummoxed: For people who use voice-assisted dialing on their phones, the phone can place a call if it hears a prompt. And so, when you were gossiping about “Laura,” your phone automatically connected to her number.

(Blame Siri – she’s such a busybody!)

I’m going to take a contrary position to just about every point you raise.

Yes, I would totally listen to a call if someone “pocket-dialed” me and I heard my name mentioned. So would you, by the way.

And do you actually want your friend to confront you about your behavior in front of your entire friend group? No, you don’t.

 

Yes, “Laura” should have raised this issue with you privately, but what happened is so dramatic, that I can understand why she didn’t.

Even though you deny what you have been accused of saying, you seem to be issuing a “non-denial denial,” a concept popularized by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to describe the evasion and equivocation by Nixon’s Attorney General during the Watergate scandal. (Please, don’t be like John Mitchell.)

The way you should handle this is to talk to Laura, privately, and apologize. Do not blame her for eavesdropping. Ask her to describe what she overheard. Correct any misapprehensions, admit to the truth, and ask for her forgiveness.

And make sure your phone’s screen is locking after you’ve used it.

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