After a series of phone related events this afternoon, I have to ask the question: Why does my house have it's own phone? When I call, no one ever answers. When I'm busy, it rings constantly. When I answer, it is never for me. Which brings me to my next point:
When answering the phone, is it or is it not common courtesy to ask who is calling so that you can relay that ever so valuable information to the person who has to end up talking to the person on the other end? Yes! Yes it is. (In the event that you are too shy to ask, you can thank caller ID for solving this mystery for you). So why then does my family think it is okay to walk up (whether you're busy or not), forcefully hand you the phone (after years of resisting I've learned that if you don't take it they just set it down by you), and when you politely ask, "Oh, who is it?" they just walk away. The ever too common outcome is one of 3 things: 1- someone trying to sell me something. 2- Jehovah's Witnesses asking me to convert my faith, and if not that, then to donate to theirs. 3- someone asking me to give a talk in the home ward because they "heard you were in town" (another thanks to my family).
For the members of my family guilty of this: You know who you are. And to anyone else sharing this same frustration, I have a solution. It is 3 steps: First- upon the house phone entering you presence, avoid eye contact. Second- place your cell phone (the phone that house phone callees should have tried to reach you at in the first place) up to your ear and Third- point to your cell phone and smile, option two is to put your finger up (this implies busyness) and walk away. Problem solved.
But then again, there are always exceptions to this frustration of mine. For example, if someone handed me this phone, I would willingly recieve it without hesitation.
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