I am just not a telephone person.
I don't know why, but I have never liked to have lengthy conversations on the telephone.Telephones are a necessity, and I realize that, but I think I could almost live without one, except for those times I really need it. I have a cell phone, for all the right reasons, but I doubt that I'd ever come close to using all the minutes afforded me.
I've got a home telephone, with Caller ID, Three-Way Calling, Call Forwarding, Call Blocking and all that other stuff, for which I pay a premium. I don't have a clue how to use any of it. It's a good thing Caller ID doesn't take much effort on my part. It just pops up the name and number of the caller. Wonderful technology. It's even a little time saver, since I don't always have to listen to messages on the answering machine. I can just look at the Caller ID list and know who called, so why bother to listen to the messages. I am really bad about that.
I am also really, really bad at calling those that I love, just to say hello and catch up on what's going on in our lives. The down side to that is that when I finally get to the point where I am either willing and able to take some time to call, we end up on the telephone for a very, very long time. Sometimes hours (huh, Rocky). So, there I am doing what I don't like to do, just because I avoided it in the first place.
And...returning telephone calls. Bad, bad, terrible. So, today I decided to listen to the 5 messages on the machine, that had accumulated over the last two weeks. The first one was from back on April 26th from a Bunco buddy, who called to tell me that Bunco would be at her house the following day. She closed it with saying, "Please give me a call and let me know if you can make it!" Whoops. I made it to Bunco, but I didn't call first. Sorry..I had an excuse though. I didn't hear the message. Well, it's the truth!
Then there were a couple of other insignificant messages, from one of Ab's little friends who had certainly reached her in the meantime, since they might as well be joined at the hips.
Two recent messages were from my "baby" sister, Kris who asked me to return her call. Kris has had a very rough time in life. In the past year, she's had 3 strokes and she's just 37 years old. Although she's completely disabled due to the complications, she's still pretty sharp.
She knows me, for sure.
In her very halting voice here's what she had to say in her latest message:
"Leeeeeesa. Thisssss is Kris.
Iiiiiiiii callllllled you. Theeeee oth ur day. I reeeeelly whhhhannnt to hear………….from yuuuuu.
Not toooooomaaaaaarrrrroooowwww. Not nexxxxxxt weeeeeek.
Notttttttt nexxxxxxxxt muuuuunnnnnttttttth.
NOOOOOTTTTT theeeeee muuuuunnnntttth affffter thaaaaat.
Can youuuuu calllllll meeeee? Pleeeeeezze!
Iiiiiii lovvvvvvveee youuuuu. I hooooopppeee you haaaaaaaaaavvvve a nice daaaaaayyy.
Bless her heart!
I returned her call right away!
I really must do better.
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I COMPLETELY identify with this. I call myself a phone-a-phobe. I just don't like talking on the phone. Maybe because telephone converations are usually small-talk marathons, and I don't DO small talk. I have no understanding of why somebody would call me on the phone just to TALK. If you want to talk to me, meet me somewhere for lunch....phones are for relaying important information to someone who isn't right where I can talk to them face to face. They're not for just TALKING.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I also suck at returning calls and even receiving calls. That's where caller ID has done my friends & family a very ill turn....I look at the caller ID and if it's someone I really don't want to talk to right then, I let the voice-mail pick it up. I'm SO bad.... Lisa :-]
Telephones have played such a huge role in my jobs that I hate using the phone in my personal life. I used to make and receive around 300 calls a day. I shudder to think about it now. Caller ID has become one of my best friends.
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