Friday 5: A clubhouse ain’t nothin’ but a sandwich

1. What is the longest you ever spent on the phone on one call? When my husband and I were first dating, we used to talk for hours. I mean, entire evenings spent on the phone.
2. When you were a teen, how important was the phone in your daily life? Texting was emerging, so I’d say that over the course of my teen years, I went from calling my friends on occasion to texting a lot. However! Every so often, I would have a day or so where I really felt the need to disconnect and take a break–I used to get tired of literally everyone around me for brief periods–and so I’d shut my phone off maybe for a few hours on a Friday or Saturday night.
3. How much do you use the actual telephone function of your phone today? Probably a few times a week. My husband tends to call me when he’s out running errands, and although I generally text whoever I want to talk to, it’s not uncommon for, say, my brother to call me if he’s driving or for me to call my mom if it would be easier than texting.
4. How well do you handle phone calls at work? At the moment, it’s not my responsibility. Everyone is still working from home due to COVID, and if you call our department, you’ll get voicemail and the supervisor is notified and listens. Prior to COVID, the bulk of us went remote, except for those supervisors and a few less seasoned employees, but when we were still in the office, answering the phone was among the responsibilities when on weekend rotation. Normally, if the phone rang when I was in on a Saturday, I’d pray someone else got to it faster. The one time I did end up answering, it was a question I couldn’t answer and I believe I directed them to another department. The thing is, although I hate talking on the phone anyway, doing it at work made me super nervous. If someone is calling on a Saturday, it probably isn’t good, and I probably can’t do anything for them.
5. What are some good telephone-themed songs? The favorite in this house is absolutely “Telephone Line” by ELO. Ah, the confidence with which my husband and I will belt, “Blue days! Black ni-i-i-ghts!” I’m also a fan of “Telephone” by Lady Gaga and “Call in the Morning” by The Greeting Committee, a band we saw opening for our beloved Jukebox the Ghost and quite enjoyed. Oh, and I always thought “Call Me When You’re Sober” by Evanescence was their best song.

From Friday 5.