Monday, March 21, 2011

And your point?

Apparently, I have become rather impatient.  When people call me, I long for them to get to the point.

"Hi Roses!  I'm sitting in my car driving through town and I was wondering if maybe, because you were involved with that fundraiser, you would consider helping out a group that could benefit from your experience and skill.  We were all talking about it yesterday at the coffee shop..."
For Pete's sake, just ask me already.
You need laundry soap for the next youth group meeting?  Great.  I'm on it.
I don't need the backstory.
Just ask.

I think it's the whole cell phone thing.
It's too easy for people to get a hold of me.
Since I carry my phone everywhere, chances are very good I'm actually doing something when it rings.
I miss the days when the only time someone could call you was when you were home, and not at work, and not at the store.  I miss having an answering machine.

And yes, I could just let my phone calls go to voice mail and not answer each one.
But then, the same "long talkers" leave really long messages. 
And, without fail, waaaaaay at the end they say something like, "Oh, don't call me back at this number. This is my mother-in-law's phone.  We went to lunch today.  We were supposed to go to lunch yesterday, but (insert unnecessary explanation).   Anyway, call me at numbersofastyoucantunderstand it.  Okay? Bye."
Then, to get the phone number, you have to listen to the whole long message all over again.

*sigh*

Perhaps I am just very difficult to please?

11 comments:

Miss Em said...

Most of the time it listen to the r-e-a-l-l-y long message 2 or 3 times to get the @#DF$# number.

Miss Em :~(

Roses said...

Word, sista.

Dani said...

Okay I'm guilty of this. Not the calling part. I hate phones.

But I find myself giving totaly pointless and unnessecary explenations in the middle of conversations. I'll start explaining and my brain is screaming "No. shut up, no one cares" but sometimes I can't stop in time and there's nothing for me to do but watch in horror as my mouth runs away with a completely boring story. It's embarasing.

Moogie P said...

I'm with you 100%.

Teresa said...

There are some people who just seem to do this. My sister does it but since she's my sister I don't get too upset with her because I don't talk to her every day ;-)

I go one of 2 ways. I either leave a very terse to the point message which leads people to think I'm angry or I start to talk and totally forget what I want to say. Seems to be no in between. Heh.

Oblivious Beast said...

It's not just you wishing the phone number was first. I read an advice column where a professional person asked others to please, please put the phone number at the beginning of the message because of the exact reason you just mentioned.

Roses said...

I should be honest and admit, like Dani, that I've also babbled into answering machines.
::whips self with telephone cord... the curly stretchy kind, or course::

Giving my name and phone number up front tends to make the rest of my message short.
So... there's another plus.

Bou said...

I give my number twice, talking VERY slowly. That way people don't have to listen twice. I try to keep my msgs short too. If it's someone I know well like VW, I just say, "Hey. Call me. *click*" And... I don't listen to my msgs. If I see it's someone I know, I just call them back. I RARELY listen to my msgs. And... I never pick up if I'm busy. I guess I pretend to live in the old days. Love Caller ID. Love it...

And I have one gf that is a notorious long msg leaver... she used to use up my entire tape on the old answering machines. I NEVER listen to her msgs. I know it's awful, but I just... can't. Even my kids laugh about it.

freckledme said...

I'm with Bou, completely! Very rarely will I check my voicemail, it's all about the caller ID!

I rarely call people, mainly because I work a 2nd shift job, so I'm asleep when they're at work, and vice versa. If I need to talk to someone I send a text, that way we can communicate when each person has the time.

In general though, I pretend my cell phone is my home/landline phone. (Just because it rings doesn't mean I have to answer it!)

Roses said...

And does anyone *really* need to start a sentence with, "The reason I'm calling is..."

I *know* you are calling.
I *know* you have a reason.
Just get to it, already.

::facedesk::

Harvey said...

Me, I'm old school:

"If it's important, they'll call back".