Hey! My Phone Rang!

Today my phone rang while I was at work.  Not recognizing the number, I sent the call to voice mail and continued on with my tutoring session.  Later, I checked my phone for voice mails, and there was one.  "Hello, Lisa, this is Joe Smith from the (local baseball farm team), and if you could return my call, I would really appreciate it."  Then he proceeded to give me his phone number (with the extension!) so that I could return his call at my earliest convenience.

I listened to this voice mail and my first thought was, "Call you back?!  The nerve!  No way am I going to call you back!"  Then, "I don't even know this guy!"  Then, "Who does this anymore?  Who actually makes calls in order to talk to people!"  I got a little irritated.  Later I thought about it and acknowledged to myself, well, he did actually leave a very nice voice mail and he was polite and all that, so I should call him back and find out how much money he wants us to donate to his very fine sports organization.  I think I was on their list because my kids all won tickets to a game last summer, during the reading program at the local library.  We had a fine evening at the stadium, the memory of which is marred only by the unfortunate fact that Jenna ate a TON of junk food and promptly threw up all over me in the 7th inning.  Then it was time for our own 7th inning stretch and a one way trip to the car -- with home and a shower being our destination and goal.  'Nuff said.

I then remembered how the nice people from the Cleveland Orchestra used to call me every so often and try to get me to sign up for their monthly concerts.  Their concerts are expensive, and they often don't start until 8:00 p.m., which is our bedtime, so it's not likely that I'll be back there any time soon.  I got on their mailing list (and evidently their phone list too) because I once took my dad to see them on a Friday lunchtime concert, which was the final concert I was able to escort him to before he got really sick before his death a couple years ago. 

Anyway, the point about the Cleveland Orchestra phone callers is this:  they, too, were extremely nice and polite.  The one lady, I really liked her phone manner.  She was so exuberant and she was so interested in explaining to me all the benefits of becoming a member of the Orchestra fan club or whatever it was called.  I just loved listening to her.  She had a great phone voice along with actual phone etiquette.   I learned a lot about the orchestra during the conversation and, while she really wanted me to join up so that the organization could get the income from my regular purchase of tickets, she was also gracious when I let her run through the entire spiel only to turn her down flat.  She was not obnoxious or rude; she kindly let me go.  Eventually the orchestra stopped calling.

The point is, wow, we (okay, I) have really changed.  We can hardly bear to take the time to answer a phone call now because we are all so shortsighted and attention-deficited.  Well, I guess I can only speak for myself.  If I cannot reduce the elements of a conversation to a text or a short email, I can't be bothered.  This blog is breaking my brain!  I have to organize my thoughts, be coherent, and explain myself without a "LOL" or a "OMG".  My kids don't even know what a telemarketer is, because we got rid of our land line about two years ago and so the only time the phone rings, it's a cousin down the street wanting to come over; a sister calling to see if I can pick up one of the cousins; or the school nurse calling to tell my my kid is sick and come pick him/her up.  Bottom line, I saw the belly of the beast this week when that nice man called and I considered my nasty reaction.  Sorry.   I need to slow down and pick up my phone if it rings.  So text me already!