What Happened to Goodbye?

Have you ever noticed that people don't say goodbye anymore? You answer the phone, hold your conversation and then... nothing, just empty silence before that annoying beep-beep sound. It was only a few years ago that I thought that someone who didn't say goodbye at the end of a conversation was just plain rude. Now it's so common it almost sounds weird to hear the words. What is even weirder is that I more often hear goodbye from friends and family than I do from strangers! Granted, my version of goodbye is more like "bah" when I'm declaring the end of a friendly conversation but at least, I'm saying it. I also say, "Hey!" instead of "Hello" when I answer a phone call from someone I know.

It also seems that "Thank You" or "Thanks" is the new goodbye, the ending to a conversation. I work in customer service, answering phones all day... and all day long I hear, "Thank you." Click. From really friendly customers, "Thanks!" said with a smile. Click. Last week, I even heard, "Thanks a million!" Click.

Every so often, I have to try and force a goodbye. The customer is going on and on about how their sweet little Collie dog got side-tracked by a poster advertising our Elvis impersonator and it ran to grandma's instead,  insisting that she buy tickets,  instead of rescuing Timmy from the well and isn't it so funny that it happened on a Monday when the sun was out? I laugh along with her but I'm silently begging, "Please say goodbye." Please let me have those last three minutes of my life back.

Thanks for reading!

That's it.

I'm done.

Finito.

Bah.