Telephone Games

In the last job that I held, I managed a hair salon.  The phone rang all day long there.  At the time, it was something that I enjoyed very much.  I loved being able to talk to all sorts of different people all day long.  Granted, when I came home at night, I pretty much wanted nothing to do with the phone at all.  I had pretty much had enough of it after eight hours. 

With my current job, working from home as a transcriptionist, life is almost totally silent.  My job is done entirely through e-mail, so I have no need for work phone calls.  I hear from my boss on the phone maybe once a month.  If the phone is in use, it’s almost always an outgoing call, not an incoming call.

The fact that things are so quiet around the house and the house phone almost never rings makes things that much more stressful on Thursdays and Fridays when it does ring first thing in the morning.  The rest of the week, it pretty much doesn’t faze me in the least.  Our agency does have a liaison in the Philippines, though, and we are always able to get news first thing in the morning.  In the past, we have been able to get it immediately – Thursdays or Fridays. 

So the point is this, I guess.  Telemarketers:  Here’s a reminder.  We are on the “Do not call list.”  If you really want to push that button, don’t do it on a Thursday or a Friday before noon again, or next time you’re going to get an earful. I promise you that.  To the nurse from our doctor’s office who called this morning:  I know we needed to hear from you, but boy, I wish you had called later in the day.  I almost needed to stop back for another visit for the palpitations your call at 9:15 this morning caused me.   

I’m certain that at 26+ months there will no longer be a point where I’m not expecting the call to come.  Even though it feels like it could keep dragging out forever, it would be nice not to have the instinct to dive for the phone saying “is this it?!?” every Thursday and Friday when it rings before noon.