Phone Tag

Phone tag has to be one of the dumbest games ever invented.  Usually, productive conversations can be had by leaving messages back and forth.  For example: John leaves a message saying, "Hey Fronk, we're going to meet up before the concert at my house at 5pm to have fish n' chips.  Hope to see you there."

Then, Fronk calls back and misses John, because John is on the can, and leaves a message saying, "Hi John, I got your message about the fish n' chips.  Sorry, can't make it.  I have a class on making Russian nesting dolls at 5pm.  See you at the concert though."

The end.  Conversation complete.

This, however, is almost never how phone tag is played.  Here's how it usually goes: John says, "Hey Fronk, this is John.  Give me a call when you get the chance."

Now, Fronk is wondering, "Dang!  Are they not going to the concert anymore?  Does John want me help him move his couch? Hopefully he's not inviting me over for those disgusting fish n' chips again..." 

So, he calls John back, and of course John is on the can AGAIN.  So he gets his voice mail and says, "Hey, this is Fronk.  So... I got your message.  What's up?  Call me back."

Here's where things have the potential to get very annoying.  Fronk asked a question: "What's up?"  Now John calls back, gets Fronk's voice mail and has the chance to do the appropriate thing and tell Fronk why he called in the first place, OR he will make some remark like, "Hey Fronk. Gosh, haha, guess we're playing phone tag!  You're it!  Call me back."

By all rights, Fronk does not have the obligation and should not return the call.  It's obvious that John is whipping up a batch of his disgusting fish n' chips.