Buzz
If you want to end a phone call, there are many different excuses you can use. While lying is never the best option, sometimes a small excuse can help you gracefully end the conversation when it’s not the right moment to chat. The easiest way to do this is by providing a situational reason or a phone-related excuse to wrap up the call or promise to call back later. Always remember to keep your promise and actually call back if you say you will.
Steps
Provide a Situational Reason
Pretend someone is at the door and you need to hang up to answer it. Tell the caller that you just heard a knock or doorbell, and you need to check who it is. You can mention that you’ll call them back after handling the situation.
- To make this excuse more convincing, you could knock on something wooden to mimic the sound of a door knock, or quietly open the door and press the doorbell.
Advice: You can also mention that someone is visiting and has just arrived at the door, so you need to open the door and can't continue the conversation right now.
Say you’re in the middle of something and will call them back. You can think of a household chore or task you could be doing. Tell the caller that it’s not the best time to chat and you’ll speak with them later.
- For example, you can say you’re busy cleaning the house, running errands, cooking, getting dressed, or anything else you can think of on the spot.
Say you're eating and can't talk. You can tell the caller that you just sat down to eat, so it’s not a good time for a conversation. Ask them to call back later, or let them know you’ll get back to them once you’re finished eating.
- If the caller insists, you can say: “My food is getting cold, I’ll talk to you after I finish eating.” or “I’m eating with friends, and I don’t want to be rude, so I have to hang up now.”
- Remember, this excuse works best if used during typical mealtime hours.
Tell the caller that you’re about to go to bed and will talk to them later. Use a sleepy tone and say that you’re heading to bed or taking a nap. Ask them to call you back later when you’re more awake to chat.
- Try yawning or acting sleepy to enhance the effect.
- Make sure to apply this excuse at the right time of day. For example, it makes more sense to say you’re going to bed in the evening during typical bedtime hours, or if it’s a Sunday afternoon, you can say you're taking a nap.
Tell the caller you’re about to have a meeting or group call and need to hang up. You can quickly check the time and say that you have a meeting or group call in the next 15 minutes to make it more convincing. Let the caller know you need to prepare and need to end the call.
- For example, if it’s 4:22, say you have a group call at 4:30 and need to get ready for it.
- This excuse will be most credible if used during standard working hours.
Pretend you just remembered an important task and need to leave immediately. Interrupt the caller and say that you just realized you have to do something right away. Act as though you’re in a hurry and hang up the phone.
- For example, you could say: “I just remembered I need to pick up my nephew for soccer practice in 15 minutes, I have to go, bye!” or “Oh no, I just remembered I need to pick up my clothes from the dry cleaner before they close at 5, I need to go now, bye!”
Say you need to use the restroom and will talk to them later. Tell the caller that you urgently need to use the bathroom. You can ask them to call back later, or say you’ll get back to them after.
- This is a reasonable excuse to hang up quickly. Most people will feel slightly awkward when you say you need to use the restroom urgently and won’t try to keep you on the line.
Use a family emergency if you truly have no other option to end the call. Say that you just received a message about a family member who has passed away or is in the hospital, and you need to hang up immediately. You should only use this excuse as a last resort. Most callers won’t try to keep you on the line after hearing something like this.
- Be very cautious about who you use this excuse with. Don’t use it with close friends or family, as it could deeply affect their emotions.
Use a phone-related excuse
Tell the caller that you need to take another incoming call. Pretend someone else is calling you and you need to take the call. Then, say you’ll call them back later and hang up the phone.
- If you’re talking on a mobile phone and there’s a landline nearby, you could increase the ringer volume on the landline to create the sound of a phone ringing, which the caller can hear through your mobile phone.
Say that your phone is running low on battery, so you have to turn it off. You can act as if you just checked the battery and it’s at a low level, so the phone is about to shut down. Mention that you need to end the call to preserve battery since you can’t charge it right now.
- If you really want to end the call, say that the phone is about to shut off and then turn it off immediately. You can either power off the phone or enable airplane mode so when they call again, it’ll seem like your phone actually ran out of battery.
Pretend that your phone is losing signal and you can’t hear the caller. Say you're on the road and the reception is poor. You can tell the caller that you can't hear them clearly and will call back once the signal is stronger.
- You can act out this excuse as if you hear nothing from the caller, then end the call. Say: “Hello, hello? Can you hear me? I think I’m losing the signal. I can’t hear anything…” Then hang up the phone.
Tell them that your phone is malfunctioning and you’ll talk later. Pretend your phone is making strange sounds or the screen is glitching. Let the caller know that you need to end the call to figure out the issue.
- For example, you can say: “I’m really sorry, but the sound on my phone is glitching and I’m having a hard time hearing you. Can I hang up and call you back once I figure it out?”
Advice: Whenever you tell someone that you'll call them back later, make sure you actually do. If the caller isn’t important, like a telemarketer, you can always hang up.
Advice
- Always return a call if you've promised to do so; this helps build your reputation as someone reliable.
- If a telemarketer calls, you don't need to give any excuses to hang up. Feel free to end the call whenever you'd like.
- If you're not in the mood to talk, simply don't pick up the phone at all.
- Remember, unfamiliar numbers are rarely someone you'd want to chat with. If it's important, they'll leave a voicemail.
Warning
- By telling harmless lies or making up stories, you risk losing friends or creating family tension.
