Thursday, February 25, 2010

When Did We All Start to Hate the Phone?

I read this, which lead me to this, and yes, I hate the phone, too.  I think I've hated it for a little more ten years now (which coincides with the boom of email, I guess), but before that? Wow, I would jaw and jaw away with my friends for hours.  Do teenagers still talk on the phone or is it all texting?  Anyway, I'll add four more reasons to avoid talking on the phone to this list:
  1. Call waiting.  I don't have it, but I have friends who do, and I need to tell you something.  All those times when you said, "Oh wait! Hold on!" and put me on hold without giving me a second (thought), we were not disconnected. I hung up.  And when you called me back and said, "What happened?" and I said, "I don't know", I was lying.  I knew exactly what happened -- I hung up on you.  That's what I do when people are rude.  I did it to you and I'll do it again.  You know who you are. 
  2. Squeezing a call in while you are running from one appointment to another, waiting for your coffee or lunch, standing in the elevator, etc.  I know you live in fear of those few minutes when you've got to sit quietly with your own thoughts, but I'm not a one-woman entertainment committee, so please wait to call me until you've got some actual time to pay attention to whatever you want to talk with me about.
  3. Make-work for your phone.  When we're scheduled to meet at 6 PM and it's 5:55 and you've arrived a few minutes early you don't need to use those five minutes to call me and say, "I'm in the back by the fireplace" or "It's actually closer to 83rd than it is to 84th (Street). "  I know where I'm going and I can find you.  If I am lost or late, I'll call you.  But if everything's on time, there' s no need to call. I'll be there.
  4. I'd rather see you in person.  Seriously. Unless you just need to telegraph some bit of information (in which case email or a text is perfectly acceptable), I'd rather sit down over coffee or a cocktail or take a walk with you.  It's more fun. 

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