Melanie’s question this week addresses a pet peeve of mine. Unwanted phone calls.

Don’t Call Me!

How polite do you find it to ignore the doorbell and/or the phone?   Especially if you’ve just begun to eat dinner or want to just veg out all by your lonesome?  Why do we feel obligated to do either thing in the first place?   One of my greatest peeves is the idea that I ought to be tied to the %$#& phone 24/7.     Your honest thoughts?

It’s no secret that I hate phones for that exact reason. I don’t want to be tied to a phone 24/7. I just think of a phone as a tool not a way of life.

I don’t get a lot of phone calls or visitors so it’s not really much of a problem but have you ever noticed how calls always seem to happen just as you are about to sit down for a meal or watch the one TV show you’ve been wanting to see all week.

I have both a landline and a mobile phone. I usually tell people to try the landline first because when I am at home I don’t have the mobile with me. It’s on the charger or in my handbag or sitting on my desk. If they call me on it I probably won’t even see the call. People who know me know this.

I have to admit I miss calls on the landline too even though it has a red blinking light when there is a message. I just don’t look at it very often.

However, what about calls that I do hear? Well usually I answer them in case it’s something important. Two people live here after all, the call could be for either of us. We have Caller ID on the landline so if the caller’s name shows up we can decide whether or not to take the call. If it’s dinner time we usually answer it and say “Can’t chat for long.” sometimes we ask the person to call back later or say that we will call back. Naomi has a couple of friends who are notoriously hard to get off the phone. Sometimes we just take the call and reheat the food. Luckily neither of us watch a lot of live TV so we can always hit pause or rewind on whatever we’re streaming.

Years ago when I used to watch Doctor Who I used to actually tell certain people not to ring me up when that show was on.

If the caller ID comes up as unknown and I’m not expecting a call from anyone I don’t feel at all guilty about not answering it if it’s not convenient. I figure that if it’s important they will leave a message or call back and I can respond. On my mobile basically if I don’t recognise the number I won’t answer it. It’s my way of avoiding scam calls.

I am less likely to pretend not to be home when someone comes to the door. I have done it but usually when it’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Sorry to any readers who may be Witnesses. I am perfectly happy for people to follow their chosen religion but I am not interested in that or any other religion. The only other time I might do that is if I am in my pajamas. Some people might think it’s fine to go to the local shopping centre in their PJ’s but I don’t want people seeing me in mine.

Is it being rude? Yes I suppose it is a little bit but if I’m honest I don’t want to take every call no matter what I’m doing at the time.