There are promises we make in Ghana that nobody expects to be broken.
“I’ll call you back” is not one of them.
It is one of those phrases that sounds reassuring when you hear it, but rarely comes with any guarantee that the promised call will actually happen.
You call someone.
They answer.
You explain why you are calling.
Then, perhaps because they are busy, distracted, around other people or simply not in the mood for a conversation, they say:
“I’ll call you back.”
“Okay.”
And you hang up.
You wait.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Thirty minutes.
Nothing.
You look at your phone.
Maybe they are busy.
You wait a little longer.
Still nothing.
Eventually, you realise that “I’ll call you back” may not have been a promise at all.
It was a polite way of ending the conversation.
Sometimes, the person genuinely intends to call you back.
That is what makes it so complicated.
They may even believe themselves when they say it.
At that moment, they fully intend to call.
Then something happens.
They get distracted.
They start doing something else.
Another call comes in.
They arrive somewhere.
They sit down to eat.
They fall asleep.
Or they simply forget.
Hours later, you are still waiting for the call that exists only in your memory.
And if you remind them?
“Ei, sorry! I forgot.”
Of course you forgot.
The entire purpose of the sentence was apparently to make sure I didn’t call you again.
There is also the more dangerous version:
“I’ll call you back soon.”
Soon?
Soon can mean anything.
Ten minutes.
Two hours.
Tomorrow.
Next week.
At this point, “soon” has no relationship with time.
It is an emotional concept.
It means, “Please don’t call me again right now.”
And we have all been guilty of it.
Sometimes you are the one who says it.
Someone calls when you are busy, and you don’t want to explain that you simply don’t have the energy to talk.
So you say:
“I’ll call you back.”
You hang up.
Then you continue with your day.
The person is waiting.
You are not thinking about the call anymore.
By evening, you remember.
“Ah! I was supposed to call.”
You decide to do it later.
Later becomes tomorrow.
Tomorrow becomes next week.
And eventually, the call has disappeared into history.
There is also something particularly Ghanaian about the way we use this phrase.
We don’t always like saying “No.”
We soften things.
We say “I’ll see.”
“I’ll try.”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll let you know.”
And, of course:
“I’ll call you back.”
Sometimes these phrases are not really answers.
They are escape routes.
They allow us to end a conversation without appearing rude.
The problem is that the person on the other end may take you seriously.
They may actually wait.
They may even keep checking their phone.
And when the call never comes, they are left wondering whether you forgot, ignored them or simply did not care.
Maybe we should be more honest.
If you don’t have time to talk, say so.
“I can’t talk right now. Can we speak tomorrow?”
If you don’t want to have the conversation, say that too—politely.
If you genuinely don’t know when you will be available, don’t promise a specific callback.
Because sometimes, the kinder thing is not to make a promise you are unlikely to keep.
Of course, there are legitimate reasons people don’t call back.
Life happens.
Emergencies happen.
People forget.
Phones die.
Work gets busy.
Not every missed callback is disrespect.
But when “I’ll call you back” becomes your automatic response to every inconvenient call, eventually people learn not to believe you.
And that is how a perfectly innocent sentence becomes one of Ghana’s most unreliable promises.
So the next time you tell someone, “I’ll call you back,” pause for a second.
Ask yourself:
Will I actually call back?
If the answer is no, perhaps there is another sentence you can use.
Because there is nothing worse than waiting for a call that was never really coming.
Unless, of course, the person eventually calls three days later and says:
“Sorry, I forgot.”
As if you hadn’t already moved on with your life.