Shared Phone

I don't call M. at work often. Both of our jobs require high concentration so we usually keep to email or IM as a mean of communication during the workday. On my way home today, I called M. at work. The phone only had my partial attention because I was driving and listening to the radio. After four to five rings, a woman picked up the phone. "Hello?"

Confused, I blurted out, "Is M. there?"

I wasn't rude really, but under normal respectable circumstances I would have kindly asked, "May I speak to M. please?" Unfortunately having a stranger on the other end of the phone completely caught me off-guard. I mean, I know he has coworkers, and I know they share the office phone, but in the age of cellphones and dedicated Skype accounts, I'm so accustomed to calling a number and having exactly the person I called pick up the phone. It was almost as if I forgot how to ask for a person on the phone. Weird.