I’m looking for some advice. And so I’m coming to you, internet. Please to help.
It fits the task for today’s “Build a Better Blog,” too.*
So what do I need help on? Making phone calls.
I hate doing it. Seriously. Even when it comes to calling my bestest buddy or a sibling. It’s excessively difficult to hit ‘Send.’
Here is how a phone call goes down for me yesterday:
I’m staring at my phone because I need to call Quinn about getting a professional out with a moisture meter to check for damage in my home from the flood. Clearly, this is an important phone call. It needs to be made now because the damage won’t wait around for a convenient time. I stare at my phone for a bit and then think, oh, I’ve got to send this email first. I’ll get back to the phone.
I send an email.
I go to lunch.
I write some test cases.
I chat with Stacki about a date with a cute guy this weekend.**
I use the middle stall in the bathroom.
I read the weather forecast on KSL.
I find a bug in an application and start recording the steps to reproduce.
I set up some automated testing.
I go to a meeting.
I log off my applications.
I leave work.
Remember how I was going to make a phone call? I finally pull out my phone while I’m walking through the parking lot. I scroll through my contacts to Quinn’s number and hit Send really-really-fast-before-I-can-realize-what-I’ve-done-and-before-I’ve-thought-about-what-to-say. Okay, here we go. Deep breath. I put the phone to my ear. Do I want to talk to him or to his voicemail? If I talk to him, what do I say? If I talk to his voicemail, I better make sense.
“Hello?”
Um, he answered. Um, yeah. Okay, so, it’s Larrie. Oh right, say it, don’t think it.
“Hi.”
Wow. Talk about being neurotic. It’s just a phone call.
And now, here’s the part where I ask for your help. Can somebody please tell me how to be normal about making phone calls? How to not get a little anxious about it and how to JUST DO IT?
I guess this is the Universe just balancing things out, because in the rest of my life, I’m probably TOO laid back so I have to be fretful about SOMETHING. Let it be phone calls. You should watch me when I call a hot boy.
*Are you getting sick of these yet? Truth be told, today I am, but perhaps tomorrow, I’ll feel differently.
**Oo, a dating teaser. That’s all you get, though.
Sciolist in the City of Salt and Saints 
I am of no help to you, because I suck at phone calls as well. I’m scared of them. And every time I place a call, I have to play out EXACTLY what I’m going to say before I can do it. Lame.
LikeLike
@shanny – do you ever write what they might say? Like a possible script…? that could be fun
THEM: Hello?
ME: Hey Joe, what do you know?
THEM: My name is Sam.
ME: Right, but that didn’t rhyme with know.
THEM: No, it doesn’t.
LikeLike