(no subject)

[shadesong]

I hate my telephone.

As most of you know, we recently moved buildings. This office is still very much a work-in-progress; they haven't even finished building the building yet, and classes start next week! But the thing that's really working my nerves is the telephone.

I have a nifty dual office setup. At least, it seems nifty to start with. I have a front reception area, where the computer is; then I have a little walk-through to a more private (but not *really* private - no door!) back office. Which is where the idjits put the telephone.

I'm the only person here for the first hour of the day. When student workers are here, they answr the phone. When Erin's here, she generally does, as her phone is right there in front of her. But when the phone rings between 8 and 9, or at any other time when Erin & the students aren't here, I have to close my Netscapew windows, jump up, run back to my back office, and answer the phone.

Keep in mind that I really. Really. Hate phones to begin with.

So I'm really very cranky right now.

I think you guys should try to cheer me up if you can. Please?

Comments

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Umm. I could try to juggle ferrets for you. Would that help?

I used to do that with kittens, but it was always messy, and painful. Ferrets at least enjoy it.

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the vampires and demons kept snatching the kittens out of the air as you tossed them, eh?

DND

[gev.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose you're allowed to set the phone to Do Not Disturb...

Re: DND

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Heh. I wish.

[deza.livejournal.com]

Want me to call you?
*ducks*

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

Go buy a long phone cord and some duct tape, and run the phone out to the front office with you. Or insist they buy you a wireless headset so you can answer from wherever you are. And don't take "It's not in the budget" as a response! ;)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Well, the phone will eventually be moved up here. This is just an interim suckiness.

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

Ah, well at least it's not permanent. Temporary suckiness at least has the advantage of your being able to know that it won't last forever. ::hugs::

[darkmattr.livejournal.com]

Email me at work!

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

I hate phones too. I'm just not comfortable talking on them. I always feel like I'm not making myself understood well, or I'm not hearing the other person well, even if the communication is going just fine. Probably a sign that my mind is not well and I need sedation and electroshock. Sometimes it doesn't bother me at all. Yesterday I called the (^$%$##!!ing apartment management people from freakin college and got the bad markes they left on my credit report straightened out without a second thought, even though it was a lot of phone work with people with broken english, thne lawyers, then a courthouse person. I think that UPI ticks me off so bad I didn't have any mental space left to freak out about the phone. But then some days I can't pick pick up the phone to order a pizza without crushing anxiety.

Oh well. C'est la vie.

[deza.livejournal.com]

I really hate not being able to see the person I'm talking to. When video phones get common, I'll probably get over my hatred of the damn things. Of course, but then I'll be so old I won't want people to see me! lol

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a stutterer, I really really hate phones. They are torture devices designed to humiliate me utterly and make it almost impossible to go through a day without feeling inferior and useless. I hardly ever answer my home phone. If someone needs to get in touch with me that badly, they can leave a message.

I'm not as bad as I once was, but the hatred lingers.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I don't often stutter, but I am speech-disabled - went through 6 years of speech therapy. And I'm not rally cured, I still have to be very conscious of my speech, but phones fluster me and I'm not able to focus on not being an idiot.

Re:

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Speech-disabled? And yes, it's hard for me to speak and do anything else at the same time. It captures all my attention and locks my brain.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Most of my speech therapy was for the following:

Talking too fast
No volume control - very loud alternating with very soft (they thought I had hearing problems for a while)
Dropping words and phrases as I talk

Re:

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

My ex had a tendency of dropping the latter parts of her sentences, assuming that someone could guess what it was she was going to say. And since I was a grammar nazi I kept trying to finish her sentences. I'm sure someone else looking on would have found that cute.

Just sounds like your brain is too fast for your mouth. *smile* You need a faster interface.

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

:: raises her hand ::

Took me two years of speech classes to learn to say R properly. *g* And when I'm tired, flustered, or sometimes when I'm tipsy, they still come out W. Chris has LEARNED the hard way not to tease me when it does.

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

Anyone who talks to me will find that I talk slowly and if I get tired, I talk loudly. Unfortunately, that's my normal voice. When I'm talking at what most people call a conversational level, I'm actually whispering. The talking slowly part comes from buffer overrun problems. My brain sends data to my mouth faster than my mouth can say it and so I end up talking over myself. If I talk slowly, I can keep from doing this.

I've also been told that I don't talk on the phone well. This is probably due to the ADD/AFD. There is not enough of the person present on a phone call for them to capture my attention and therefore I pay attention to other things and don't give good phone...

I prefer vastly e-mail or in-the-flesh meetings to the telephone...

[technomom]

What's AFD?

Re: AFD

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

AFD = Attention Focus Disorder
It's a better name for ADD since we don't suffer from a deficit of attention, we just don't necessarily get to choose where to focus it.

*poke poke*

[aggression.livejournal.com]

You're cute. (in a well drawn cartoony fashion)
*that work?*
Ummmmmmmm.
I just told an Engineer that if he didn't get out of my cubicle that I'd club him with stapler in your name. =) (He left)
I could stand on my head and cluck like a chicken but it's a location joke, you'd have to be here.
My puppy chases his tail until he gets so dizzy he falls over.
I could perform part of the Drunken Immortals form which always seems to make people laugh when I have to fall down. (My pain, their pleasure.)
I dunno.
I like making people laugh though. It's easier than trying to beat the hell out of them and saves wear and tear on my hands. =)

Re: *poke poke*

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Am *not* cute. :P
The stapler-clubbing made me smile, though. :)

Re: *poke poke*

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

You *are* cute. And I've seen an actual photo of you, so I know you're cute in a living, breathing, sexy woman sort of way, not *just* in a well-drawn cartoony sort of way. ;)

Re: *poke poke*

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

Am *not* cute :P

Yeah, pull the other one.

Would it be more amusing if auryn29a and I tossed the ferrets back and forth in a dual juggling duel?

Our ferrets recently learned to jump the lexan barrier on their room. I was collapsed on the coach and Elton came up to me and said, "Hi, Dad! Lets play." *furfle*

Re: *poke poke*

[aggression.livejournal.com]

Well, you can argue that since I've never actually SEEN you.
I'll just take everyones word though.
Ok, so maybe you're STUNNING instead.
Sexy?
Hot?
Beautiful?
*shrugs*

Re: *poke poke*

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I'll take "interesting". :)

Re: *poke poke*

[aggression.livejournal.com]

Thank you Alex, I'll take "Interesting" for $500. =)

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

DAILY DOUBLE!

Re: *poke poke*

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

Hop on one foot and bark like a dog.

A big dog.

Re: *poke poke*

[aggression.livejournal.com]

Smile when you say that. =)P

Re: *poke poke*

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

What makes you think I wasn't?

Besides, it's a quote.

Re: *poke poke*

[aggression.livejournal.com]

Heh.

So is smile when you say that. =)
I was just pokin around.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[crackerbob.livejournal.com]

Irony of Ironies... I despise the phone... I hate hearing it ring, I hate talking on it, I hate it I hate it I hate it.

Yet I work in a call center doing tech support =/