I wonder why people hate when a computer answers the phone. I could not be more thrilled. I am being serious. I loath talking to people on the phone. People I know, well, that is okay. Just okay. I'm not completely keen on it. But people I don't know, ugh, don't get me started.
What is the big deal about talking on the phone, one might ask. Everything, I would answer. First of all, it's very impersonal. I rely on watching people's body language and eyes as I speak to them. There is no way to detect, over the phone, everything you can pick up on when you speak to someone in person. Can you see that their eyes are shifting and darting all over the room as they lie smoothly to your face? Can you see if their brows draw together and foreheads crease in confusion even though they are saying they understand everything? I didn't think so. The tiniest raise of the eyebrow, a smirk of the lips, maintaining eye contact. These things are essential to a visually sensitive person like myself.
I don't know if I'm too easily distracted or a horrible listener but I have to see something to understand and this includes conversation. I love the uncomplicated directives of the automated operator, press one for English, two for Spanish. I get that! Press four for a billing question? No problem. Press three for last bill paid? Easy peasy! This is my dream phone conversation I wish I could do this with personal calls. Push one if you want to say thank you, push two if you want to ask what were you thinking... see! This would be great. No awkward silences, no wondering if the person on the other end is silently laughing at me as I babble, I could get my message across in a very simple, numbered fashion. Any questions you had about a callers sarcasm would vanish, getting annoyed by someone's terrible grammar, obsolete. I think I might try to market this idea. It's what everyone will get their in-laws for Christmas next year.
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