I have a thing with phones.  First, I don’t really use them.  I don’t really enjoy spending hours on them chit-chatting, but I do like using them for business purposes (what can I say? I’m a customer service kind of person).  Besides, for the most part, my cell phone is buried somewhere in the depths of my purse and digging for it is not worth the effort.  (Especially considering the calls I tend to get – telemarketers and pre-recorded messages.)  I guess I enjoy landlines better because they’re easier to find and I don’t need to worry about a signal.  However, we had a whole slew of wireless handsets at the Opportunity Green office and they seemed to mysteriously get sucked away from the front room towards the back as the day progressed.  Eventually, we’d be at a loss for where the phone was ringing from!  It really was amazing and the fact that the stand rings too certainly made it harder for us locate them.

It also doesn’t help that I don’t like checking voicemails.  So many are unimportant and unsolicited calls and I usually have to listen multiple times to make out what people are saying, either because their connection was spotty or they spoke really fast.  Others can drag on when I’d rather call them back to discuss in detail, or get an e-mail with the 20 points they just listed out verbally.  It makes it easier for me to remember and review!  In that regard, thank goodness for Google Voice!  They let me go through my voicemails in any order, so I can skip the junk ones.  Plus, they transcribe the voicemails so I can read them and listen to the ones that look important.  Though it can ultimately save me time, their transcriptions haven’t been that accurate.  Ironically, the text message they sent me alerting me to my new voicemail was more accurate than the transcription I found when I logged in online.  What gives?

So, phones, though a great way to contact people, are not my preferred way to staying in touch.  I’m more of a get together in real life type of person.  I prefer to use phones to call/text people to figure out how/when we can get together.  Of course, if I won’t be seeing one for ages and e-mailing or Facebooking just isn’t doing it, a long phone conversation is nice.  However, it’s usually sufficient to stay in touch online while we can’t meet up, since most of the people I hang out with live in the same general area.  Also, it’s great to have a phone on you at all times in case you need to call someone to remind them of something, let them know you’re almost there, ask for directions, or other such things that you can’t do if you’re like me and don’t want to pay for internet usage on your phone.

Anyone else like to use phones for no-nonsense purposes only?  Or is the world addicted to their Bluetooth headsets as they chat away while on the go?  It still cracks me up when people look like they’re talking to themselves (or seem like they may be talking to you) when in fact they’ve got a little ear piece hidden behind their hair and they’ve got another person on the line.  Whatever happened to being more present?