Speaking on the phone…

I have never been comfortable speaking on the phone. I have always believed that a phone is meant for only communicating important messages or information.  So, I try  to have only  brief conversations on the phone. This attitude towards the phone has landed me in trouble many times.

I would make a call to say something important  to someone and if there is even a slight delay in getting any response I would disconnect the line. Promptly I will get a return call from the person I called,  firing me for abruptly cutting off the line.  I had , of course,  to profusely apologize and continue with the conversation. In my early days in advertising   I did this to an important  client and almost lost my job. Unfortunately  I am stuck with this habit even now that I get pulled up by my near & dear ones for disconnecting  the line without waiting for the response from them. Thank God, post retirement  I don`t have to deal with clients anymore.

I think this bad habit emanates from my   impatient  nature. Very often, even while a person is communicating a story to me on the phone, I would  interrupt him with some other point, lest I forget to talk about it later. This leads to confusion leaving me feel bad- another reason why I don`t indulge in long conversations on the phone. If at all you find me on the phone for a longer period of time it is because the person on the other end is talking non stop and I am only listening.

In the good old days when we had to make international calls, I used to face another  problem. There would be always a time lag between the spoken word reaching the intended person and his response leading to overlapping of conversations. Like it happens in the panel discussion on TV channels today. I was always uncomfortable with such conversations.

While a few men also indulge in long conversations on the phone, I have observed that  it is the ladies who are, without exception, experts in this aspect. I used to notice this with my late wife. She would rarely make calls but when she did to her sister or a friend she would be on the phone for hours. Those days when we were solely dependent on the only landline, I had to request her to end the conversation as I was expecting an important call from a client or a friend. She would however continue talking,  ignoring my request.

Thanks to social media and particularly `Whats App`,  with the possibility of viewing the person called on phone, one to one verbal communication has come down drastically. Every one prefers to send messages through Whats App and expect immediate response. `I sent you a message on what`s App- why have you not responded?`. I tell such people that I am not glued to my phone all the time like  most of the youngsters are.

Mobiles, particularly the smart phones have completely changed the way we communicate with people. However, it has not stopped some from indulging in long conversations with their near & dear ones, with their mobiles glued to their ear, oblivious to their surroundings. The people who do this while walking on the roads don`t realize that they are risking their limbs & lives by this indiscreet act. God save them!