I have to come to loathe a ringing phone. I much more prefer a text. Theyre far more succinct and efficient. And polite, like a little nudge saying hey. When a text comes in, you get a little beep, you can glance at it to see who it is, what they want in a brief, concise manner, you can text back immediately, or you can wait till later when youre not busy, or, if you so choose, you never have to respond to it at all if you dont want. Its a polite, uninterruptive way of passing on a brief tidbit of information, which is usually all the sender really wants to do. On the other hand, youre in the middle of doing something, or at work, or watching your favorite show on TV, and your phone starts ringing... Its like someone rudely barging into the room, ignoring what youre doing, and blaring loudly and irritably, Hey! Hey! I want to tell you something! HEY!! I have a question for you! Look at me! Give me attention! I want your attention RIGHT NOW!! Im the most important person right now! HEY! in the most irritating Harry and Lloyd voice possible... And then , should you answer, there is always the fifteen seconds of unnecessary hey whats up, nothing how about you, off today, gotta work later, aw that sucks, yeah, but gotta pay the bills, then, after all thats finally done, comes the hey, the reason I called you... and they say, right then, what would have been the text message. Then, after the real message has been communicated to you verbally comes all the obligatory and unnecessary empty space non-specific chit-chat and gossip and going off on tangents that comes with every phone call. And the accidental interruptions of one another while you both speak at the same time because you cant see the other persons expressions, oh, sorry, go ahead, no, you go ahead. And those inevitable awkward moments of silence where you can never find the exact right moment to say bye and hang the damn thing up. And, worst of all? If you dont answer it after the sound of the ringing poked you in the ear seven or eight times, when it goes to voicemail, and they dont even leave a reason why they called. Which means to me, you were accidentally pocket-dialed, because they apparently really had nothing of importance to say to you in the first place. Drives me frigging CRAZY. And I never call back without a reason to. And hey call me back is NOT a reason. Im not sure where this aversion to telephone conversations came from, really. Salespeople? Bill collectors? Persistent people who thought they were my friends? Cant remember now. Probably a combination. Its been developing for a long time. So, sorry. But not really. This note is just another reminder to those who do call me out of the blue why you usually never get me, only my recording of chitty-chatty dolphins I have on my voicemail... That means Im busy doing something else and really dont want to be interrupted at that second, unless of course its an emergency. Or essential in some way. I even disengaged my phone ringer years ago, so I dont even ever hear it ring anymore. Ill get a prompt for voicemail if you leave one and will check it at my leisure, eventually. But if you send a text describing what it is you want, chances are 99% Ill respond immediately, and if its something that requires a phone conversation at that point, no problem.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 17:13:49 +0000