The Dreaded Telephone

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I'm curious, are there others out there who hate the phone? Have you found ways to overcome or minimize the issue?

I am LITERALLY afraid of the phone; when it rings I get this anxious feeling and quickly try to analyze the pros and cons of answering it and try to think of something else I could be doing to excuse missing a phone call. Of course consciously I know this is ridiculous and there is one exception, when my husband calls, but it still happens, and this is quite a problem because I'm a... secretary.

Thanks for sharing!

oooh I'm so very much the same way. I will always answer if it's my boyfriend but literally anyone else I do the same. And everytime I realize it would be easier to answer than to try to come up with good reasons. I've stopped giving reasons, just saying "sorry I missed your call, what's up?" and try to say it with enough confidence/agression that the person doesn't say "what were you doing?". i also will avoid calling anybody back. I dont know why i just like, am afraid of dealing with whatever the issue may be. That being said, that is for my personal cell phone. I used to work as a receptionist at a bank and it was easier for me there because I was in the operations center in the middle of everyones office so I had to get the phone or I would have lost my job. At work, it's easier for me to "act" and be someone else. I mean, it has nothing to do with me or my life, no one on a work phone is going to come down on me for my life choices. I don't know if that helps. But I'm so glad someone else feels this way about the phone.

I can’t stand telephones. They startle me when they ring and without fail they ring right when I start talking and I don’t talk much. I have no problem letting a phone ring and as far as calling people back; I just say on my answering machine that I may call you back.

I have trouble figuring out what to say on the phone.

Ditto. The reason I love the phones at my house are because they have Call ID and Voicemail. If it's someone I don't know/want to talk to (99% of the time its this) I don't answer. If they really want to talk to me, they can leave a message. I'm very awkward on them too.

I'm exactly the same. I hate the phone. Unfortunately, I have no suggestions for dealing with it, other than to shift as much communication as possible to email. Sometimes, I know, that isn't possible.

Ditto with phones...Too much immediacy. I prefer online contact, or even leaving a message on voicemail or having one of my coworkers answer for me and commuincate my message. I have a hard time thinking of my feet and giving back an intelligent answer to a question quickly.

Hate, hate, hate the phone. Love, love, love texting.

It's weird. i HATE the telephone, i hate the sound it makes when it rings. HOWEVER, if *I* am the one making the call, it's okay. especially considering the fact that i interview people...i guess i can handle it because i'm in control, i leave myself and my fears, and i get to do the mental probing of total strangers whose art i have come to appreciate on a one-on-one level....

After more or less three years in the customer support area in two different companies, i really have no problem whatsoever with the telephones anymore. As i was young i never picked up the phone, so my parents were getting quite upset sometimes. At first i was also nervous, but with so many calls every day, you get to know your customers, anticipate their problems (requests) and start to help them. I guess it's in my nature i like to help people. Conversation flow start to repeat itself so it soon becomes a routine and the anxiety goes away.

It's also the quickest way to solve problems, opposed to emails which you have to wait for an answer

I hate phones,part of that is an association with the phone and beiing beaten atfer mom called my teacher,, I also suspect that it is because im a visual processer and i cant understand or process verbal conversations without that visual imput.. It contributed to a loss of a teaching job where i was expected to call parents.

I hate the notion that someone expects me to drop what Im doing and talk to them any time they call, it makes me feel violated. Email works out way better.

Wouldn't like to use the telephone if it was part of my job as i would find it very stressful but if its family related then i can talk with ease.

I have trouble working if someone is on the phone in the background.

Wow, it's great to hear that I'm not alone in that. I always find myself thinking of the conversation after the fact, suddenly coming up with all kinds of intelligent responses that I could've said instead of "Uh, yeah" or something like that, and when I have to call someone for any reason, I wind up worrying so much about stuttering or slurring or talking too fast that I almost make the whole thing worse! And I have trouble remembering directions when they're given on the phone, so I've found I have to literally take notes while I'm talking, so I don't forget the info I needed. Emails are so much easier, and I can go back and re-read them if I forget a detail.