Alright. Here's the deal. I'm laying it out for you.
I screen my calls. All my calls. And I'm not ashamed of it. I pick up my phone most of the time with the intention of hitting the "silence" button, not the "talk" button.
The Man That I Cohabitate With thinks that this is extremely rude. "If they took the time to call..." he says. I find this line of reasoning to be nonsense. What time does it take to call? What effort? It's not like anyone has to look up numbers these days. They're all stored in cell phones. It takes at most 5 seconds for the user to instruct the phone to make the call. Also, it's not as if the caller even had to move to make the call. They have the cell phone on them. They could be in a restaurant, in a mall, at a sporting event of some kind. Making a phone call is no longer a special event.
Also, I know what people are calling me about. I know that if I get a call from a friend in town early on a Saturday night, they want to go out. If I get that same call much later on a Saturday night, they want me to come pick them up. I know who wants to chat, who wants advice, who's lonely, who's concerned about my welfare.
And if it's anything urgent, they'll leave a message.
Which I'll check in about... a week, just before it's deleted.
Note: No, of course this does not apply to you. I always answer your calls. If you call and I don't answer, it's because I'm asleep. Or in a public place. Or can't hear my phone. Or my phone is out of batteries. Or some other perfectly reasonable explanation.
10 comments:
I admit I do the same. I hate talking on the phone, for the most part. There are few exceptions to that (of course, those exceptions being you, and a select few other people).
I confess, too. I screen my calls. And I hide it from my fiance. But only if I'm in a bad mood, and it's best that I don't talk to anyone. I've NEVER done it to Marcia.
I give you permission to screen my calls.
People, everybody does it, that's what caller id was invented for. If you don’t have control of your cell phone - you don’t have control!
I'm a habitual call-screener these days. It's actually to the point that, about 3/4 of the time even at home (where I DON'T have caller ID), I will wait and see if the caller leaves a message. I figure, if it's important enough to leave a message, it's important enough for me to call them back.
So if I don't answer, just leave me a message yelling at me. And then I might call you back if I'm in a good mood.
I also screen my calls. I have to really be in the mood to talk on the phone. But what annoys me is when people call my home phone, leave a message like "hey, just saying hi" and then call my cell phone and leave the same message. Who needs to say hi that bad?
I screen at work. That's because I hate everyone who calls me.
Wait. You people get phone calls? From other people? I think my phone is permanately on silent!
I don't like people, so not only do I screen my calls, I don't return emails, and sometimes I just plain kick small children.
I won't answer my phone for anyone, really. Not when I am living my life. I can get back to people when I have a reprise from life. ;-) That's my philosophy. I know people who ALWAYS answer their phone, no matter what-- dinner, visiting with their newborn, what have you! I think it's foolish.
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