ET, Don’t Phone MY Home

….because you will not get an answer. Leave a message, but there’s no telling when I’ll get back to you.

It drives some visitors to our house nuts; I do not answer our home telephone. “Aren’t you going to get that?” Nope. Pretty much anyone I would care to talk to knows that the only way to call me is to call my mobile….and then I might only answer half the time.

If I don’t answer the phone, why have one? Well, I can give the number to people who may need to call, but I don’t need to speak to. At the moment, I need it for my DSL connection. And, I do use the home phone to make outgoing calls. It drops calls a lot less than my mobile; I hate getting dropped during a work related call!

I dislike the intrusion of the phone, home or mobile. I understand that some conversations are better held in real time. But if you are seeking information from me, send me an email. In that way, I can properly research the answer to your question when the time is right for me. I am juggling homeschooling two kids, an often demanding job, household maintenance, meal preparation and the rest, so my time has to be managed extremely well. Moreover, I can reply to you at 6am or 10pm and not worry that the time isn’t right for a phone call.

Perhaps my choice to not speak on the phone has led to decreased personal interaction…. But it also decreases my stress level.

Oh, there’s the phone ringing — will I stop writing, jump up, run over to the phone and answer? No, of course not. It is almost guaranteed that I don’t want to talk to whomever is calling.