overcome my aversion to phones

to find out where to send invoices? no sweat. returning phone calls of hospitals looking for therapists? done. calling up friends i haven’t seen in over a year just to chew the fat and catch up on old times? another story. it’s definitely hard for me, and i have to admit, compared to the other phone calls i make, i’m not really working on it. but i think i have accomplished this goal when it comes to business phone calls.

than I have made this whole year. Easily. Having to work in a profession that survives and thrive off of placing phone calls, I have really done a good job with this. I’m so proud of the fact that 95% of the time, I am able to pick up the handle and make the call without trying to put it off. I would almost say I’ve successfully completed this goal, except that I still have a problem with calling friends. I can’t bring myself to do it. The calls I make now are pretty short, sweet, and explanatory. But friends like to be lazy with each other, and say a lot of nothing, and I feel like I’m wasting time sometimes. So once I can feel comfortable being on the phone with friends for no apparent reason other than just to be on the phone, I can’t say I’m done with this. I still need to do some work. But I’m so much better!

at this. Since I’ve been put in my receptionist position, I’ve been picking up the phone and being professional. I have to admit, when I first started the job I would hand the phone over, because I didn’t know what to say and whatnot. I have good phone manners; I just don’t like to be on the phone. With the phone, I feel like my multi-tasking skills fly out the door. I don’t want to miss what the other person says, so I focus on them, leaving whatever else there is to do off until I’m off the phone.

I wish my indifference at answering the business phone would transfer over to my personal phone as well. I will deliberately not pick up the phone, leave it in my car, far away from me where I can’t hear it, just so that I don’t have to answer it. It’s absolutely horrible. I have at least 2 calls to make, that should’ve been made days ago. =S

Oops.

whom I hadn’t talked to in almost a year! The conversation was great, but again, there was a little bit of a lull. I think you need lots of time between talking with people, else you’ll run out of things to say to them. At least you can build up stories to tell so that there’s not a ton of awkward silence. I hate awkward silence! I like the conversation to flow.

on the phone the other night and today. Again, there were moments of awkward silence, but I bit the bullet because there were moments when she really wanted to talk. But when we were on the phone, I was already thinking about other things I could be doing. Ugh, I just don’t like phones. But it was nice hearing from my friend.

that gives me such contempt for phones. I hear them, and I just don’t want to pick up; isn’t that horrible? I just don’t want to deal with the person on the other line.

I think this hatred of phones stems from my mom. She works, but she doesn’t really work at work, so she’ll call me and keep me on the phone while saying absolutely nothing. It pisses me off! And then I get off the phone mad, and then I see someone else call me, and I just don’t want to pick up. I hate the awkward silences, I hate that I could be doing something else instead of talking, but I have to focus all of my attention on the person on the other line who isn’t saying much of anything. I mean, couldn’t you have said what you needed to say in an email? I love email. It’s one of the best inventions on the planet. I mean yes, it’s nice to hear other peoples’ voices, but I just feel so awkward when it comes to phones. I really have to get over this. There are a lot of people I haven’t talked to of late.