Unless I am mistaken, this thread had like 23 pages when I first came upon it last week sometime. Due to time constraints I could only read the first few pages, but was looking forward to reading the rest and now it has shrunk to only 4 pages . . . all of Richard's posts are gone.

As for putting a caller on hold momentarily to take an incoming call, if someone did that to me it would not ruffle my feathers in the least. The key word is MOMENTARILY. If the second call requires immediate attention, just come back on the line and let me know ASAP and we can resume our conversation later. This is done in the work place all the time. Business phones have several incoming lines for this reason. It is not a breach of etiquette nor do I find it insulting.