DEAR ABBY: The other day, I was checking numbers on my contacts list in my phone. It has been years since I purged any, so I sent out a few texts with just the person's name. Later, I woke up around 3 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep, so I checked my social media.
I returned two emails, then saw I had a response to one of my texts which read, "???" So I texted back my name. Next thing I knew, my phone was ringing. It was an acquaintance from years ago. I answered, even though I could have let it go into voicemail, because I didn't want to be rude. However, the last thing I wanted to do was have a 3 a.m. conversation with this person -- or any person, for that matter.
In my opinion, a phone call is different from a text. Calling me at 3 a.m. was inappropriate, bordering on rude. The other person contends I shouldn't have texted that late if I didn't want to talk. I have put this matter of contemporary communication etiquette out there, and the feedback I'm receiving on the subject is divided. What do you think? -- TEXT ETIQUETTE IN THE SOUTH
DEAR TEXT ETIQUETTE: What I think is that you owe the person an apology for having disturbed him or her in the wee hours of the morning and, while you're at it, explain that you didn't think your text would be seen until after sunup.