Posted by noa on March 21, 2003, at 23:37:41
In reply to Hi, I picked up..., posted by shar on March 21, 2003, at 20:24:04
I refuse to be slave to a ringing telephone. At work, I usually cannot turn it off or use the "do not disturb" because it is looked down on by supervisors, but once in a while I do put it on "DND" because I have to finish something and can't with all the interruptions. One way I definitely go against the office culture is that when I am meeting with someone, I almost always let it get picked up by voice mail because I can't do calls in the middle of meetings, and like my focus to stay on the discussion at hand, and it can seem rude to the person I'm meeting with, anyway. One time, a colleague noticed and actually thanked me for not getting the phone. It is do-able to ignore the phone at work because I have the ring volume on a rather soft level.
At home, I usually leave the ring off. I check every once in a while to see if the red light is blinking and look at the caller ID. But when my dad was in hospital, I felt I had to leave the ringer on. Other than that the only time I have my home phone ringer on is if I make a call and expect a call back very soon and it is something important that I need to answer.
I find the ringing phone rather jarring. I don't like the feeling of having to jump to answer. Sometimes I like talking on the phone but often I just like some peace and quiet.
Some people think it's strange, but it makes me happier and calmer.
poster:noa
thread:209989
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030316/msgs/211318.html