• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Adversion to the Phone

LiquidMidnight

LiquidMidnight

Dec 25, 2000
7,288
3,399
Visit site
#1
As a fairly self-reflective dude who isn't afraid to take an objective look at himself and say what he's bad at as well as what he's good at, I can honestly say that I suck on the phone.

I've never really been too comfortable with the phone. Although I'm an introvert, I'd much rather communicate with someone in person than over the phone. I feel like I ramble on the phone and trip over myself when I feel like I have to deliver a bunch of information in a short time frame, such as leaving a voice message. I'll sometimes take 5 or 6 tries to get a voice mail greeting that I'm happy with on my own phone.

My day gig has some phone duties in it, but yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time on the phone, more so than what I normally do in a typical day. At the end of the day, I was mentally drained from being on the phone so much as opposed to my other duties, which would probably be considered more taxing by anybody who fancies themself an armchair cognitive psychologist.

Ready for the real contradiction? I enjoy public speaking, but I hate talking on the phone!

Is there anyone else here not great with the phone? Any tips on how to get better? Anyone with a background as an administrative assistant or in a service center whose major job duties center around the phone? Sorry for all the sentence fragments in this paragraph, including this one. :D
 
#2
I hate using phones, hate them. I will put off phoning people till I absolutely have to and even then will spend the bare minimum of time on them . I just don't like them and find myself very uncomfortable using them.

Saying that I used to work as a head-set slave for DSGI customer services department, where my whole job was about talking on the phone. I was surprising fine with it and got excellent evaluations. I suppose I somehow manage to separate using the phone as part of a job and when it's just me.
 
#7
I have a cell phone. I don't like talking to it. I will ignore your calls and then send you a text message whats up.

I'm missing 4 teeth on the bottom of my mouth, and while I pretty much talk fine now, I'm still really self conscious of it. I also have a tendency to talk really fast and slur all my words together as well, never understood why but I do.

I'm not nervous when I talk face to face, but to me spoken word doesn't have much value. Its why I can hold out my hand, say habla ingles, and someone will give me a cigarette. Its more about the body language and tone of voice for the most part.

Might also explain why I can never sing along to a song...
 
#9
I truly don't know why, but I detest talking on the phone. I have a real aversion to it. A-V-E-R-S-I-O-N.

Even to my wife or kids. It's just uncomfortable and is a pain in the arse. Apparently I'm notorious for short and to the point phone borderline rude calls.
 
#10
I used to hate talking on the phone and I really sucked at it. Then I got a girlfriend that lives a few hours away and I was put in a position where it was deal with talking on the phone, or not talk to my girlfriend. The choice was logical and now I am quite comfortable talking on the phone as I do it an hour plus a night.

lowsound
 
#11
I used to abhor talking on the phone, I hated it an would normally let the phone ring out at home and only answer it if it was someone I knew.

Then I started working retail, and I got used to it. It was a part of the job and although I hated it i had to do it. Now im fine with it and while for lenghty conversations I would much rather have the person in store, I can talk on the phone no problems.

Its a very useful skill to have, and its not all that daunting once you get over it.

I still completely suck at leaving messages though.. No idea why, i'm just terrible at it.
 
#12
I rarely talk on the phone, and when I do, it's always incredibly brief. I don't really have an aversion to doing it, I just don't do it much. Texting is a different story: while I'm fine with texting people to make plans or get information or something, I really hate conversational texting. The conversational barrier of being limited to relatively short messages with no real indication of tone or anything nearly ensures any conversation will just get increasingly awkward (for me anyway.)

IMO, nothing quite beats good old fashioned face to face contact.
 
#17
TheDarkReaver said:
I hate using phones, hate them. I will put off phoning people till I absolutely have to and even then will spend the bare minimum of time on them . I just don't like them and find myself very uncomfortable using them.

Saying that I used to work as a head-set slave for DSGI customer services department, where my whole job was about talking on the phone. I was surprising fine with it and got excellent evaluations. I suppose I somehow manage to separate using the phone as part of a job and when it's just me.
Click to expand...

yeah this, all of it.

I find the whole thing annoying, cumbersome, and mostly pointless with more precise communication tools like email and text messaging available. To me the two best forms of communication are either Face to Face (where facial expressions and gestures can be seen clearly and vocal inflections are not colored by the process of converting and sending the signal electronically) and the Written Word (which is a fundamentally different form of communication geared directly towards the problems with not being face to face with another person). Speaking directly to others without a visual reference guide is still too new of an experience for humanity in general to have taken on it's on intricacies to deal with the peculiarities of the medium. We still use the same types of phrasing and speech patterns and conventions on the phone as we do in face to face conversations, and frankly I find it a bit confusing and unnatural.

if you notice though, "business" calls take on a different tone than normal phone calls.. if you talked to a friend the way you talk to someone about business on the phone, your friend would think there was something wrong with you. This is because businesses have learned to deal with these differences because they are more evident and important in a business setting... thus it's the "business call etiquette" that actually makes those sort of calls "easier" than in our personal lives.

I especially hate when someone calls and says "hey, wanna hang out" I say something along the lines of "yeah, I'll be over shortly" and then they want to start chit chatting. I'LL BE OVER SHORTLY shut the heck up and you can tell me when I get there and it won't be in tincan disembodied voice speak.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back