Bad on the phone.

[UfarkTheRipe]

Actually I'm horrid on the phone. I loath making phone calls and put them off. I stumble over my words and I know I sound awkward. When I get someones answering machine, I panic, hang up, think about what I want to say, call back, and deliver my message to the machine.

If I am recording the greeting on the voicemail or answering machine I have to write myself a script and practice it and I still have to do it about 10 time to get it right.

But, I handle people in person fine.

 

[BluePantsMcgee]

Totally in the same boat, it is hard to explain what exactly makes me extremely uncomfortable making a phone call. I always prefer a quick text-message or email. Only when that is not possible, I usually just don't do it and face the consequences or delay it as long as I can.

 

[UfarkTheRipe]

I think I like crapping better than talking on the phone.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

I think I like crapping better than talking on the phone.

I like crapping better than a lot of things but I digress. I LOATHE phones and yet I field 10-20 calls a day from strangers and often have to call them back and leave messages. I'm absolutely terrible at it.

 

[EditorOne]

Allow me to overthink it:

According to standard INTP stuff, which I'm paraphrasing, we're most comfortable with familiar stuff and the more information, the better. We're also at a disadvantage even in a face-to-face chat because we're not always reading emotional signals the way they're intended. So on a phone call, we've got no damn help at all in terms of context, the person's situation, the basic emotional signals we can get right (the guy is shaking a fist at me, I get that).

Same lack of information as forum posts or emails, but it doesn't hit our comfort level the same way. In here, especially, one expects a certain amount of leeway or latitude in regard to being misunderstood, and we can spend as many words as we want trying to make ourselves clear. On the phone, not so much, and you don't know if the person on the other end is being curt because they don't want to hear it or because his bacon is burning on the stove and he wants to take care of it.

One de-pressurizing concept is: It doesn't matter all that much if a phone call doesn't turn out well.

Another: Learning and trying various scenarios to make bad calls turn out well (remember, I was a newspaper editor, many phone calls were people with a grudge, a complaint, a grievance, a threat or a rant).

Third: The only thing you really have control over is your response to a situation.

How's that for overthinking?

 

[Duxwing]

I have no problem talking face to face or on the phone; albeit, the latter is somewhat harder because I can't see the other person's face and the device itself or the misuse thereof can distort their voice.

-Duxwing

 

[Beat Mango]

I talk on the phone all day at my job. I'd struggle to maintain that if it was face to face instead.

You can get away with being much less "present" on the phone because people can't see your reactions. I don't understand how that isn't a good thing for the introverted and feelingless.

 

[Architect]

I hate the phone.

 

[Etheri]

I prefer calling someone over sending texts back and forth incase we're arranging or planning something.
I do lose my phone, or just carefully ignore it whenever I don't feel like answering. I also tend not to text too much as long as I'm not stuck in some mindless place...

 

[Cavallier]

I talk on the phone all day at my job. I'd struggle to maintain that if it was face to face instead.

You can get away with being much less "present" on the phone because people can't see your reactions. I don't understand how that isn't a good thing for the introverted and feelingless.

I average about 80 to 90 calls a day. It was hard in the beginning but after a couple of months it became freeing. I often chat co-workers, read internet articles, post here, and listen to podcasts simultaneously while taking calls. Rarely do I have to devote more than half my attention to a caller. My callers almost always end the conversation satisfied. This is not something I could get away with when dealing with people face to face.

The only downside is that I'm too distracted to make clear and concise posts here.

 

[Beat Mango]

I average about 80 to 90 calls a day. It was hard in the beginning but after a couple of months it became freeing. I often chat co-workers, read internet articles, post here, and listen to podcasts simultaneously while taking calls. Rarely do I have to devote more than half my attention to a caller. My callers almost always end the conversation satisfied. This is not something I could get away with when dealing with people face to face.

The only downside is that I'm too distracted to make clear and concise posts here.

Wow. I work in insurance claims. I have to write notes on the conversation during and invariably after the call, as well as make decisions and allocate assessors etc. There's no time for anything. And my callers almost always end the conversation unsatisfied

 

[Hawkeye]

I only hate the thought of answering a phone or having to phone someone. Usually I find once I have passed this barrier the person on the other end is pretty similar.

I couldn't stand working in a call centre however. I have no patience for lippy customers. I'd probably be disciplined or fired within the first couple of hours.

I find it weird that certain people don't end phone conversations traditionally. They just finish their last sentence and put the phone down. For some reason, it rustles my jimmies when people do this, even though they are not meaning to be rude by it.

 

[UfarkTheRipe]

I will drive 15 minutes to talk to person rather than call them.

When they call you, they don't care if you are on a ladder hanging one armed in the wind while they yammer away.

I have so many awkward moments on the phone that easily could be handled in person.

I lost a gig the other day because the customer's employee who was a bitch anyways asked me, "Are you busy right now?" I blurted, "Yes." and she said "Ok, I'll call someone else." and hung up. She didn't wait to hear that I was in line at the library with six people behind me and I would have called her in a few minutes.

She was worthless and quit that job after only six days.

 

[Mabuse]

I hate phones to such an extent that I've conditioned myself into feeling dread when hearing anything that resembles a ringtone, similar to the reaction I have when hearing doorbells.

It's usually because I don't have anything to "read" from the person I have to speak to, or I'm being called in the middle of an intense thought. My friends have figured out the only appropriate time to call me is when they need to find me quickly, but my parents must endure my snappish conversation because they inevitably time their calls at the most inconvenient moment.

Every time I see job posting that mentions "answering phones", I move on. If I need to call some business or make an appointment, I have to build myself up. If there is any chance that someone else is able to make the call, I dump the responsibility on them.

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with a cellphone because I have the tendency to wander off without telling anyone (or I'm too quiet for a few hours and people think I've left the house). It's too useful a safety measure.

I also never say "hello" because the respondent must also reply "hello" but those are greetings, not questions. And how do I answer a not-question? "What", however blunt, always results in a proper answer.

 

[SpaceYeti]

People tell me I sound confused on the phone. I probably am, because I'm spending so much time trying to figure out what people are saying, which is super difficult on the phone for whatever reason. Text messaging FTW.

 

[UfarkTheRipe]

My phone is old and HTC 4G, but it really is a technological wonder. It has Multi-touch touchscreen display 3-axis accelerometer, Digital compass, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Wi-Fi Hot Spot, Video Kick Stand FM-Radio, GPS navigation.

I can control my computer from my phone and I'm a dev so I can make the phone do most anything. I could even interface the phone with pulse width modulation through headphone jack to talk to a microcontroller that drives motor effectively using an Android as a brain for a robot.

But you know the worst thing about my phone?

Spoiler

It's also a phone.

 

[BluePantsMcgee]

I always have it on complete silence, no sound no vibrations. Family called it selfish of me though to have it like that. I can't really comprehend why. Maybe they think that you have to be availible for another person on every moment you can?

 

[Cavallier]

Wow. I work in insurance claims. I have to write notes on the conversation during and invariably after the call, as well as make decisions and allocate assessors etc. There's no time for anything. And my callers almost always end the conversation unsatisfied

I fix their things! Mostly people are excited to speak to me. If they aren't excited and are instead frustrated that their things are broken I can usually tip them back into happy by fixing their things.

We do some call logging as well for the simple fact that some issues are ongoing and we need a record of what troubleshooting steps were performed. In the long run it helps to cover you ass as well. If it's not in the log it DID NOT HAPPEN regardless of if it did happen or not IRL. It helps that we are not recorded.

I hate talking to people on the phone otherwise though. I am direct, concise, and get the job done. If I'm on the phone with a friend or family member I can't think of a single thing to say to them.

 

[Cavallier]

But you know the worst thing about my phone?

Spoiler

It's also a phone.

That's the worst thing about my phone as well. I really really really really really really really want a Pip-Boy now.