History Main / RidiculouslyLongPhoneHold

[[quoteright:320:[[ComicStrip/GetFuzzy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ridiculously_long_phone_hold.jpg]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie'', George and Harold need to sneak past Mr. Krupp's secretary Ms. Anthrope, so they call her and pretend that she's won a contest and needs to be on hold to claim her prize, so they play the phone next to some on hold music; she spends the ''entire'' rest of of the movie listening to the phone, which must of been at least half a week. [[spoiler:TheStinger has George and Harold realize that they forgot that she's still on hold and when they talk phone again, she accidentally hangs up, which enrages her.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''. In "Telephonies," the Gangreen Gang makes prank calls to various different Townsville citizens. Lil' Arturo pranks Professor Utonium, by telling him that he just won a ten-million-dollar sweepstakes and asking him to remain on hold, which the Professor does for the rest of the episode, despite Arturo hanging up.

* In WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie, George and Harold need to sneak past Mr. Krupp's secretary Ms. Anthrope, so they call her and pretend that she's won a contest and needs to be on hold to claim her prize, so they play the phone next to some on hold music; she spends the ''entire'' rest of of the movie listening to the phone, which must of been at least half a week. [[spoiler:TheStinger has George and Harold realize that they forgot that she's still on hold and when they talk phone again, she accidentally hangs up, which enrages her.]]

[[folder:Film- Live-Action]]
* Early in ''Film/{{Hook}}'', Peter is actively ignoring his family and focusing on a phone call to a business partner. His wife Moira shows her displeasure by throwing the phone out of the window. At the end of the film Peter finds the phone in a snowbank and realizes the partner was trying to call him back the entire time. He then shows his character growth by throwing the phone away himself.
* ''Film/PleaseHold''. Mateo tries to ring the police to find out why he's been arrested. He's on hold for so long he falls asleep, only to wake up and discover that he was on hold for 117 minutes, and, much worse, has tapped out his bank account by being on hold for so long. That means that now he can't contact anyone on the outside.

* ''Film/PleaseHold''. Mateo tries to ring the police to find out why he's been arrested. He's on hold for so long he falls asleep, only to wake up and discover that he was on hold with the LAPD for 117 minutes, and, much worse, has tapped out his bank account by being on hold for so long. That means that now he can't contact anyone on the outside.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': In the season 10 episode "Trojan", a runner during the episode is Lister trying to order a drink-stirring machine from the automated phone system "All-Droid", spending most of the episode with a phone in hand, still on hold. This ends up intersecting with the main plot when a simulant orders them, at gunpoint, to not move, ''just'' as an operator finally gets on the line, on the phone which is now halfway across the room. Naturally, Lister would rather risk death than wait on hold that long ''again'' and makes a lunge for the phone, setting off a firefight.

* PlayedForDrama in one commercial where a woman calls a security company to inquire about getting a security system after her house is broken into. When someone picks up, the woman informs her she has the wrong department and puts her back on hold.

* On ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Roger and Steve call a company to complain about a shoddy novelty product they bought. They are left on hold for what is implied to be days, only to be transferred to voice mail.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode where the family goes to Australia, Bart calls a boy in Australia to ask which direction the water in the sink is flowing. The boy has to check with his neighbour who lives many miles away, so he places Bart on hold and spends half the day visiting his neighbor and going back to answer the question. By the time he gets back Bart had already gone to bed and no longer cared about the question at all.

Sub trope of AbsurdlyLongWait. Sister trope of ForInconveniencePressOne.

And then she said, "please hold, please hold"When calling a business, or any person who might receive a high volume of calls, one can expect to need to wait for an operator to become available. Sometimes, if there are few operators available, too many incoming calls, or both, a character can be left waiting for quite a while. These wait times may ''feel'' like hours in real life, but fictional wait times can take days to really drive the point home. During this time, a recording will almost always remind the caller that "Your call is important to us" and ask them to continue holding.

When calling a business, or any person who might receive a high volume of calls, one can expect to need to wait for an operator to become available. Sometimes, if there are few operators available, too many incoming calls, or both, a character can be left waiting for quite a while. These wait times may ''feel'' like hours in real life, but fictional wait times can take days to really drive the point home. During this time, a recording will almost always remind the caller that "Your call is important to us" and ask them to continue holding.

* Pretty much what causes Hughes' death in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. After finding important evidence, Hughes tries to inform Roy by using a phone box as the military lines can't be trusted. However, the operator forces him to recite an extremely long code to even access the line before putting him on hold. While the duration isn't more than a few minutes, it's just long enough for Envy to find and kill Hughes before Roy is reached.

* ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy''. Invoked in a 2005 story arc, in which Rob attempts to get in touch with [[BrandX Dull Computer]] customer support. At one point during his call, he's placed on hold for hours -- so many hours, in fact, that he can't make dinner, and has Satchel order pizza for the night. Meanwhile, at Dull Computers, a few customer service reps [[http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy/2004/07/27 boast about their personal records of keeping customers on hold]], ranging from three hours to five hours, to one guy who ''still'' has a customer on hold as they speak.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Cornered}}'' comic:
--> '''Operator:''' Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line until your call is no longer important to you.
* ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy''. Invoked in a 2005 story arc, in which Rob attempts to get in touch with [[BrandX Dull Computer]] customer support. At one point during his call, he's placed on hold for hours -- so many hours, in fact, that he can't make dinner, and has Satchel order pizza for the night. Meanwhile, at Dull Computers, a few customer service reps [[http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy/2004/07/27 boast about their personal records of keeping customers on hold]], ranging from three hours to five hours, to one guy who ''still'' has a customer on hold as they speak.
* ''ComicStrip/ShermansLagoon'' has a storyline where Sherman is on hold for days.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' has a story where Jeremy calls a company and is told "please hold while we jack you around from department to department." He declares that it's nice to see some corporate honesty. In another, he tells a caller to wait while he gets a pencil... then goes all the way to the office supply store to buy one, leaving the caller waiting for what's assumed to be hours.
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Super trope of AbsurdlyLongWait. Sub trope of ForInconveniencePressOne.

Sub trope of ForInconveniencePressOne.

* Pretty much what causes Hughes' death in ''Manga/Fullmetal Alchemist''. After finding important evidence, Hughes tries to inform Roy by using a phone box as the military lines can't be trusted. However, the operator forces him to recite an extremely long code to even access the line before putting him on hold. While the duration isn't more than a few minutes, it's just long enough for Envy to find and kill Hughes before Roy is reached.

[[/folder:Anime and Manga]]