History Main / ShortDistancePhoneCall

** On a more serious note, he once tried to talk with his own father, who is a high level executive that makes a lot of money but is subsequently [[WhenAreYouComingHomeDad absent a lot from Zack's life.]] His dad is clearly distracted and answers a call from his cell phone, which turns out to be Zack in the same room using his own cell phone to call him.

* In ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', Zack called Mr. Carossi about a car that he wants to purchase - and they both happened to be in the same room. Initially, the two don't realize that they're talking to each other -- which led to a variant of RightInFrontOfMe.

-->'''James Wesley:''' Sir? ''[beat]'' Yes, passenger's side. ''[hangs up]''
-->'''Anatoly Ranskahov:''' Was that him?
-->'''James Wesley:''' Mmmm. [[DeadlyEuphemism He'd like to have a word with you.]]
-->'''Anatoly Ranskahov:''' Oh that's good.
-->''[The door on Anatoly's side abruptly opens and an enraged Fisk rips Anatoly from the car, pounds him senseless, then decapitates him with the door]''

** In "Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert", Stottlemeyer is searching the concert grounds looking for his runaway son Jared. Then he catches Randy in the act of playing sick. Immediately, he pulls out his cell phone and dials a number. In the foreground, Randy's cell phone rings:

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': Using Saria's Song (which allowed you to talk to her for a reminder of your next objective) right after learning it from her got a semi-peeved comment from her that you could just talk face-to-face.

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' has a variation in season three when George Sr. is on house arrest. To participate in family meetings, he relies on Larry Middleman, a surrogate who communicates with him over a radio headset and speaks for him. In one episode, they hold a meeting in the penthouse and Michael asks why they're using Larry there since George is just in the next room.
* ''Series/TheBoys2019''. In "What I Know", Alastair Adana, the leader of the Church of the Collective is sitting in his study at home chatting on the phone to [[spoiler:Congresswoman Victoria Neuman who is walking down the street. Suddenly his head explodes, and the up-till-now unrevealed Supe psychic assassin is shown to be standing just outside the fence of Alastair's house. It's Neuman.]]
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''
** In the first couple of seasons Detective Lance and his daughter Laurel have a mobile BatPhone which they can use to contact the Arrow, but this sometimes causes problems when one of them calls when Oliver Queen is standing right next to them, and he has to vanish around the corner before answering the call.
** In "Brotherhood", Thea is hanging up every time her father, supervillain Malcolm Merlyn, tries to contact her, leading to this trope when he decides to visit in person, because on that occasion she had actually decided to answer the phone.

* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Ying first appears by making a phone call to Tok Aba's Cocoa Shop, but it's [=BoBoiBoy=] who takes the phone and her order. She orders one special hot chocolate - and to have it here. [=BoBoiBoy=] turns around to see Ying on his left. When asked why she didn't simply order at the stall, she replies that she is shy.

* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Ying first appears by making a phone call to Tok Aba's Cocoa Shop, but it's [=BoBoiBoy=] who takes the phone and her order. She orders a hot chocolate - and to have it here. [=BoBoiBoy=] turns around to see Ying on his left. When asked why she didn't simply order at the stall, she replies that she is shy.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1360714771069813300

[[quoteright:350:[[Creator/ArchieComics https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_shortdistcallcrop_9064.png]]]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' did this a lot when characters next to each other engaged in lengthy dialogue, they start talking to each other in person, and then switched to the codec, which in character was supposed to prevent people from listening in on your conversation. It's therefore implied that you think your message out loud for it to be transmitted, and it's explicitly said that the codec directly stimulates the small bones in your ear. The codec screen is just two talking heads and a bit in the middle that shows the frequency, and thus whilst it works for contacting people when you want to, it doesn't make for interesting {{cutscene}}s, especially when they get way too long.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' and their remakes, you can use your phone to call other trainers. Do this in the same area as them and they usually question why you don't just talk to them in person.

* In the third-to-last episode of the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'', Aelita gets a phone call from Jérémie, only to find out that a few seconds later that he's right behind her.

* In the ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]'' episode "Sword of the Atom", Aquaman calls the (Ryan Choi) Atom, telling him that he'll be [[TelephoneTeleport arriving via the phone line]] in a moment. Choi exasperatedly tells him that he's the one with that power, not Aquaman, and even if Aquaman did have that power it wouldn't work over a cell phone. Meanwhile, Aquaman tiptoes in from the next room and surprises Choi.
* In the short, "Day for Knight" from the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode, "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS1E59BraveTalesOfRealRabbits Brave Tales of Real Rabbits]]", Buster is a knight for hire, hired by Hamton to rescue Babs from a dragon. The two are seen talking to each other by phone, then the camera zooms out, revealing that they are actually standing next to each other.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''
** Castiel's use of OffscreenTeleportation leads to this:

* ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'': After an incident in which Deeks is targeted and shot by an enemy, Sam decides Deeks needs to improve his personal security. To prove his point, he decides to stakeout Deeks, but arrives late to work after Deeks didn't show. Since Deeks has not yet arrived at OPS, Kensi calls him...only for his phone to ring inside Sam's bag. Deeks saunters into the room, takes the phone from Sam's hand, and his conversation happens while they're all within ten feet of each other:

-->'''Deeks:''' I must have slipped it in there while he was waiting for in line for coffee. Medium triple, low fat, hold the phone.

'''Deeks:''' That'd be for me. Marty Deeks.
'''Kensi:''' Hey, it's Kensi!
'''Deeks:''' Hey!
'''Kensi:''' How did your phone get in Sam's bag?
'''Deeks:''' I must have slipped it in there while he was waiting for in line for coffee. Medium triple, low fat, hold the phone.

* NCISLosAngeles: After an incident in which Deeks is targeted and shot by an enemy, Sam decides Deeks needs to improve his personal security. To prove his point, he decides to stakeout Deeks, but arrives late to work after Deeks didn't show. Since Deeks has not yet arrived at OPS, Kensi calls him...only for his phone to ring inside Sam's bag. Deeks saunters into the room, takes the phone from Sam's hand, and his conversation happens while they're all within ten feet of each other: