Things that are common in fiction but not in your real life

[meeera]

From film and television fiction: someone orders an expensive drink in a bar, takes one sip, has a couple lines of dialogue, then leaves. Drives me up the wall.

[fabricalado]

@meera that's a good one.

It reminded me of another pet peeve (not mine, but from a friend who works in a pub): when everyone gets served as soon as they arrive in the place cause, apparently, there is a waiter for every table, rather than one waiter for the whole place.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by curtw

Now, my contribution: turning on the TV or radio at the exact moment that a relevant-to-the-plot news bulletin is being broadcast.

Pre-1965 TV and Cinema where the TV or radio comes on INSTANTLY. Battery valve radios do, but I've no memory of seeing one on TV or Cinema. Mains valve (tube) sets with isolation transformer about 30 seconds. The cheaper radios and all Valve TVs can take a minute.

You can pay a taxi to follow a taxi, but unless you are at a station rank before the train comes in you might not find a taxi!

Which film had the joke where the guy says, "Follow that Taxi!"
And it does, but without giving the guy time to get in?

Or when the character calls someone they always answer their (mobile) phone?

[fabricalado]

and also how people hardly say "hi, who is this" when they pick up their phone in movies! (I think it's been mentioned here before, got a bit of a dejá vù as I wrote this)

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by fabricalado

and also how people hardly say "hi, who is this" when they pick up their phone in movies! (I think it's been mentioned here before, got a bit of a dejá vù as I wrote this)

Well caller ID has been around for quite some time, but what bothers me about phone answering in movies and TV is the huge percentage of time that someone picks up a ringing phone and says "Yes". I've never had that happen in decades of phone use.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Well caller ID has been around for quite some time, but what bothers me about phone answering in movies and TV is the huge percentage of time that someone picks up a ringing phone and says "Yes". I've never had that happen in decades of phone use.

CID was fun when new. I had just turned up a digital trunk to our San Diego office, when I got a call from the IT guy there, I greeted him by name (I had a beta CID SL-1 set on my desk). He was shocked I knew who was calling.

I still answer CID calls, non-traditionally. So 'Yes?' is the way I have answered my phone.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by theducks

'Yes?' is the way I have answered my phone.

I hear this a lot when I'm calling people for work, especially if I've forgotten to unhide my number

[arjaybe]

In many British shows I've seen them pick up the phone and say nothing until the caller (apparently) speaks. Is this a thing?

[maddz]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

In many British shows I've seen them pick up the phone and say nothing until the caller (apparently) speaks. Is this a thing?

Not the way I was taught to answer a phone... I presume you mean a landline? It's possible it's a party line, and they are waiting to hear if the call is for them not one of the others on the line.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Well caller ID has been around for quite some time, but what bothers me about phone answering in movies and TV is the huge percentage of time that someone picks up a ringing phone and says "Yes". I've never had that happen in decades of phone use.

I do, actually, if the caller is unknown.

[ownedbycats]

I always love reading older books where the entire plot could be solved if cell phones had existed back then.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I always love reading older books where the entire plot could be solved if cell phones had existed back then.

No, it wouldn't really. I read some YA adventure books set in early Twentieth Century. Before broadcast radio. In two of them messages by Morse feature. One was a battery powered transmitter in Alaskan wilderness in a tent.

The author would have simply changed the story slightly. The Famous Five, Hardy Boys and others would simply have had mobiles snatched by criminals, or no coverage in the secret passage / cave / cellar or battery is flat.

Or the hero drives off after filling up leaving phone and laptop on roof of the car! Not read it in a story, but know of it in real life. Phone was OK (an old Nokia). Or you can only make emergency calls and can't receive any due to no call credit.

In real life someone managed to alert about a kidnapper just by dialling. Someone was suspicious and traced the phone.

In several stories since 2014 they ALL have cell phones and can't use them because the bad guy(s) monitoring.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I do, actually, if the caller is unknown.

I say "Hello" and never "Yes" or "No" due to scammers that would edit you into a recorded verbal contract.

About half the people that call regularly have the Caller ID blocked so that if they call strangers (business) that the stranger has to call back to the Company number. Scammers often have a faked Irish one.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by maddz

Not the way I was taught to answer a phone... I presume you mean a landline? It's possible it's a party line, and they are waiting to hear if the call is for them not one of the others on the line.

Yes, landline, and in a situation where a party line seems unlikely. Maybe the people grew up with a party line and got in the habit?

[Apache]

People locked in the trunk of a car and can not get out. Since 2001 the federal government has required in trunk cable releases. Pull the cable and the trunk pops open.
Apache