Does anyone else HATE leaving messages?

[silentsigh89]

I mean..I'm not great on the phone in general, and I sound like a seven year old boy, but if I have to leave a message I usually just hang up.

even when I try, it comes out as one really long word and I imagine people laugh at me when they hear the messages I leave.

...I hope I'm not alone in this.

[nati1107]

i have voice messaging issues as well.  but mine are different.  i'm never around my phone, never, i forget about it.  it stays in my purse, in my coat, in my car.  i miss my calls like crazy, but i always call back.
i never check my messages.  never.  right now i have 15 unchecked messages.  i see the missed call, i call you right back. on my message i tell you "dont leave a message, i wont get to it on time" -- but everyone keeps on leaving them, i think my friends think i make exceptions.  i dont know why its such a task for me to call my voicemail, type my little password and just listen.

[SPACERACE]

I just don't do it. If I call someone and get the answering machine, I hang up. It gets annoying for all involved parties, but my messages sound terrible, so too goddamn bad.

[milly balgeary]

i love voice mails. i never actually want to talk to people anyway.

[peacocks]

I leave the longest messages ever, and if I know it's a loud machine and you have a pet, forget it.  Sometimes I have to wait to call people when my roommate is around becauase she'll  sit there and move her hand as if to say "out with it you twit" and the messages then sound like "bla bla blahaokcallmebackbye"   if someone isn't there to stop me I ramble on like the person is actually there, because something in my head tells me that they will be eventually.

[Bernard]

I'm like you, peacocks. An answering machine is like a great listener, I can talk for days.

[TheNames]

I'm not a phone person at all. I try to stay away from them. I almost never listen to messages people leave me. I don't own a cell phone and I refuse to give in on that point.  I never leave messages. The only exception is when I use a pay phone.  I really love using pay phones. I get a kick out of the idea that I can only talk for a limited period of time. I treat the conversation like a race and usually leave messages if the other person doesn't pick up.  I also like to fool myself into thinking that if the conversation is short enough I'll get my money back, which never happens of course, but that doesn't stop me from having "Hi, I'm at a payphone so I can't talk long, bye" conversations.

[El_Josharino]

I'm not much of a phone person either.  I used to attempt to leave actual messages but I always hung up feeling like a tool.  So now, in the event that I do leave a message it's something like, "Chris.  Augie.  Call me."  Unless I've been drinking.  Then I leave long, rambling, tangential, hilarious (if I might say so myself) messages.

[davy]

telephones in general are the bane of my existence. ever since my first long-distance relationship went spiralling down in a mercilessly gradual series of explosions--all of them over the telephone--i've been sort of in shock. my once-healthy telephonal lifestyle has never recovered.

[Andrew_TSKS]

davy, i can hella relate to that. my ex is a class act for driving down from dc today to have the breakup conversation with me, especially since she just had to turn around and drive back an hour later. i hate having blowups over the phone, because if you work it out you need to hug the person to really start feeling ok again, and if you don't... well, i still feel the need to hug afterwards, even if it is a goodbye hug.

good god, i'm emo today. i suppose that's understandable though.  

[cold before sunrise]

of course it is. breakups are the one time it's perfectly acceptable for a guy to not only act like an abandoned baby but soak in a hot bubble bath with take-out chinese and scotch while letting it all melt away with the tears.

tip for answering-machine-o-phobes: crank up a tune that your friend with either recognize as you by association or because the lyrics fit with a snap and don't bother saying a word. or! make up totally random messages pretending to be like, a dude from the xxx video store giving hell about late charges on beastiality flicks... some woman with a heavy foreign accent inquiring about a bizarre ad in the paper... or a dream-come-true type offer from a vip... ? use your imagination. eventually they'll always know it's you but at least your blathering won't come across as a waste of tape and fifteen seconds gone forever.

[silentsigh89]

that's lovely advice, thanks

[peacocks]

andrew, keep on truckin' like a rollin' stone.

[W. Earl Piglet]

I'm bad at talking on the phone in general. I have some sort of phone phobia.

[SPACERACE]

I have some sort of phone phobia.

Might you have a phonebia?



GODDAMN that felt good.

[robOt]

andrew: sorry to hear of the break. totally empathize. chin up, eh? :[

reese: you made my miserable morning. may your favorite cereal rain down upon you. :]

"hey look, ma! i'm bipolar!"  ^

::robOt::