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Sanctus
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03 Jul 2012, 4:05 am

I hate having to call someone, especially if it's someone I don't know. I get nervous and try to imagine what they might say and how I'll answer.

When I'm the one being called, it's ok. But I still don't like it. My mother calls me every evening, and always complains about how I sound cold and uninterested. Fact is I find it hard to concentrate on what is being said in a phone call. I really have to try hard to understand and remember everything.
Oh, and I absolutely freak out when there's background noise. Sometimes when I was on the phone with someone my mother would try to talk to me at the same time, and I can't handle that.

At the moment I sometimes work at a pizza delivery, and I take the calls and orders. That's alright, only very exhausting if there's a lot going on around me. I turned the phone volume to max and still I sometimes have to ask people twice, especially if they're speaking very muffled or fast. Of couse most of them instantly snap at me for having to ask twice. :roll:



rebbieh
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03 Jul 2012, 4:41 am

I hate talking on the phone. When people call me it takes a long time for me to pick up the phone because I keep telling myself not to. I get very anxious when I have to call people I don't know or barely know. My heart starts pounding etc. I also have to write down everything I want to say when calling someone. But if that changes during the phone call or if the person I'm talking to asks me something I'm not prepared for I get very confused. Besides that, I never really know how to end phone calls which makes it quite awkward.



yellowtamarin
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03 Jul 2012, 4:56 am

It is my least favourite form of communication. I sound cold and uninterested too, with people I am comfortable with. I push through conversations with strangers and come across better, I believe, but it's quite a strain.

I have one friend who insists on calling me while she is driving home. She's actually my only friend who rings me just to chat, and the person I have the most trouble talking to. So she's just topping it off by ringing from where it's hardest for me to hear her. I've tried to explain that I don't like it, but she doesn't get it. Last time I said "you are talking in the car again aren't you" and she said "it's okay, I'm using handsfree!". :roll:



Atomsk
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03 Jul 2012, 6:21 am

rebbieh wrote:
I hate talking on the phone. When people call me it takes a long time for me to pick up the phone because I keep telling myself not to. I get very anxious when I have to call people I don't know or barely know. My heart starts pounding etc. I also have to write down everything I want to say when calling someone. But if that changes during the phone call or if the person I'm talking to asks me something I'm not prepared for I get very confused. Besides that, I never really know how to end phone calls which makes it quite awkward.


I have similar problems with phone calls. I really hate it - and every time it rings, except for with a couple people (and even sometimes with them), I will keep telling myself not to answer. With people I'm familiar with, for the most part, there's a 50% chance I will not answer - even less of a chance I will answer for unknown people. Also, I take a long tome to answer. Phone calls are met with instant anxiety.

I think texting is great, though.



Scottinoz
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03 Jul 2012, 6:43 am

What helps me is to write out a list of topics or request or gather information about something and then pick up the phone or when i go to get things too, I shouldn't have sold my phone it was getting to expensive and i want a vote world wide to make phones and the net free :-)



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03 Jul 2012, 6:53 am

Most phone calls make me nervous and sweating. In some rare cases I even start stuttering slightly.

The thing I hate the most is when some relative calls and asks "What are you doing right now?" The question makes my stomach turn.



jonny23
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03 Jul 2012, 7:03 am

I often can't bring myself to make calls especially if they are really quite important and I think about it too much instead of just doing it. I work at a place with a lot of background noise and I can't understand anyone on the phone when it's noisy. Other people that I work with seem to have no problem with that.



PTSmorrow
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03 Jul 2012, 7:58 am

Totally sh***y and i plainly refuse to do it by now. Each Sunday evening my NT sister forces 2 hours of small talk on me. I deactivated the landline, she gave me a cell phone. I lost the cell phone, she gave me another one. But i don't want this anymore, even more so since cell phones may cause brain cancer and are definitely bad for my thyroid, which causes problems anyway. My sister could as well email me.



iggy64
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03 Jul 2012, 8:02 am

Communication for me goes like this:

Emails/forum posts/text I can review>receiving phone calls>making phone calls>face to face.

I hate it when there's a lag on the line and we end up talking over one another. I also get snappy and frustrated if someone tries to talk to me while I'm concentrating on a phone call, because I get disorientated when I try to listen to two conversations at once. Same thing happens if two people talk to me face to face, really.


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Blownmind
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03 Jul 2012, 8:10 am

Sanctus wrote:
(...) complains about how I sound cold and uninterested. Fact is I find it hard to concentrate on what is being said in a phone call.

A trick that might help the cold and uninterested tone, is smiling. I worked at a place where I answered 3-400 phonecalls each day. The irony is that I started working there because I didn't like phonecalls. Sort of a "jump in the deep end"-tactic. I worked there part time for maybe 4-5 months. The result? I still hate phonecalls, but I've learned to smile when I answer the phone. A smile can be heard. And the beauty of it, they can't see your smile, so you don't have to be self-conscious about it.

I think it's primarily my social anxiety that causes my dred for phonecalls.


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hanyo
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03 Jul 2012, 8:12 am

I have a lot of trouble calling people I don't know and almost never do it.

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cyberscan
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03 Jul 2012, 8:43 am

I HATE phone calls. I am effectively deaf when it comes to understanding verbal communication. Background noise is murder. I prefer text communication any day.


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DonkeyBuster
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03 Jul 2012, 9:22 am

Truly not my favorite thing. I have to make some calls 'cause I'm an adult in a remote location w/investments, but basically only money & needing repairs will make me do it. Definitely have to 'not think' about it, just do it. Can't even say why I dislike them so much. It isn't anxiety, it's more a kind of revulsion.

I don't call friends/family, I email them. If they don't email, they don't hear from me.



tuffy
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03 Jul 2012, 9:33 am

I hate phones, I almost never answer calls.



mightyzebra
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03 Jul 2012, 9:39 am

I don't think I find a problem with phone calls, but apparently I might say the "wrong thing" during phone calls, or talk too long or too quickly. There's a different kind of "method" of talking to someone through a phone rather than in real life, which sometimes freaks me out a bit.


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Monkeybuttorama
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03 Jul 2012, 9:41 am

I don't like them for socializing, but I don't mind them for important stuff, though I do pace constantly when I'm on one of those calls.


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