Recently I was asked this question from a woman reader:

“I’ve been flirting with this one guy on match.com and another guy on Yahoo! Personals. We’ve had some fun email exchanges. One of the men said ‘This is fun, call me sometime. I’d love to hear your voice.’ Then he gave me his number. What’s the proper etiquette?”

So here is the proper etiquette. Forget about what your mother said that you’re not a lady if you call first. Things are different now.

My favorite email that I told a woman client of mine to send to a man after he gave her his number is this:

“Sure. I’ll give you a call. I like having all the power. 🙂 Actually, I was kind of tired of having men call me first, ’cause then you just have to wait. Now it’s more fun…I can make you wait 🙂
Talk to you real soon.”

This email will make a guy think…and laugh. He’ll also realize that giving up all that power and waiting for that phone call is really not a lot of fun.

Not only that, but the next time he gets a phone number from a woman and considers making her wait three or four days for him to call, he’ll remember what it’s like sitting by the phone and waiting for that first phone call.

My rule for this is that if you’re a woman and you give your number to a man, put an expiration date on it like a carton of milk. If you give your number to a man on a Friday, put an expiration date on it of Sunday night. Making someone wait for that first phone call is a momentum killer!

Plus, what really does happen to the milk at midnight on the date it expires? How do they know it’s no longer going to taste good at one minute after midnight? Should you drink the entire carton at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday night, or if you drink the carton after midnight are you going to get sick? Don’t take your chances with this. Make sure and call someone well before the expiration date.