Ring Ring Ring
I’m not afraid of a lot of things. Celery. Heights. That’s about it. But more than either of them I’m afraid of phones. More precisely I hate phone conversations.
Maybe it’s the inability to see the other person’s gestures and facial expressions, but I find it incredibly uncomfortable to talk to somebody on the phone. I stumble over my words, I start sweating and eventually my throat goes dry and I have to get rid of the other person as quickly as possible.
It’s not just strangers, I’m the same with my wife, my mother, anybody. I rely on email and text messaging for 90% of my contact with the outside world. Email is great. Not only can you take time to think about what it is you want to say, but you have a paper trail that is a permanent record of the conversation. You can send images, plans and embellish descriptions. I find I can be myself in written conversation and not the bumbling mess people come across if they call me.
Not everyone agrees with this. The worst culprits are the people who reply to an email with a phone call. Why do people do this?! Surely it’s much easier to answer my question or respond by just clicking reply and typing what you want to say? If I wanted a phone conversation I would have called you!! Yes, you can ask and answer lots of questions very quickly over the phone, but is it really worth the hatred I now feel towards you for ruining my day by making me speak to your disembodied voice? Surely not.
Add comment September 20th, 2006
