(no subject)

[nolly]

I just posted this as a comment in someone else's LJ, but I think it deserves a post of its own here.

I hate calling when I don't know who's going to answer the phone. Even when I know everyone in the house, if I want to talk to one specifically, I'll freeze. It's part of why I'll nearly always call a cell before a home number. There are a few exceptions, like my parents, and maybe my brother and his wife. Strangers are a subset of not knowing who will answer. I do find business calls easier than personal calls, usually because I don't feel like I'm potentially interrupting something more important -- I'm calling for a legitimate reason. They're also usually easier to script. I'd hate coldcalling, though.

Comments

Must be my HR gene...

[sisterfish.livejournal.com]

We don't have call screening.
We don't have caller id.
We don't have voice mail.
We don't have cell phones.

I don't mind making phone calls at all. I'm very proficient at both leaving short, succinct messages, and long rambling ones.

I'm usually the one to order pizza in our house.

I really think that the advent and ease of e-mail has made lots of phone-phobic people even more so. (this also ties into my theory that e-mail can be really passive-agressive, but that's a different thread!)

Re: Must be my HR gene...

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I usually order pizza online. :) I have an answering machine, and voice mail on my cell phone, but if I'm home, I answer. (Unless I've accidentally let the battery die on the nearest cordless and can't get to a working phone fast enough.)

I don't think I'm any more phone-phobic than I was pre-email; less really, but that has more to do with growing up and with practice than with email.