the phone

I hate talking on the phone. It wasn't always that way. As a teen, that's all I did was talk on the phone. Hours at a time. But as an adult, there isn't much I'd less rather do than make phone calls and talk on the phone. People often wonder whether I don't like them or something when they call because I'm not talkative usually (unless I'm driving which I'm trying not to do and is another story altogether). I know I'm not like that in real life. And yes I do like to talk. And yes most likely I do like you. I just hate the phone.

I think it goes back to when I worked at the Canadian Liver Foundation as a telefundraiser. During those three months I worked there full time, I would make about 500 calls a day. Over 5 days that's 2500 a week and 13 weeks is 32500 phone calls. About 10 years later, I worked at CIBC as a customer service rep for VISA. I'd take about 30 calls an hour there. And then as a youth pastor and a person growing up in the pre-internet days, I've spent a lot of time on the phone.

Anyhow, I hate the phone. If someone wants to get a hold of me, I usually have a 'within a few minute' response time by email. Or text message. Or just about anything else. But if you call me at home on my home phone, I'm going to be short. Not cause I don't like you. And not cause I don't want to talk to you. I just hate the phone.