Ignore

Confession Time:

If you call me on my cell phone, 87% of the time I will ignore your phone call.

Reason: About 99% of the time, I really don't like talking on the phone.

I don't know why. It's just not my thing. If I'm calling you, I intend for that call to only be for a few minutes... and usually there is a practical reason for the call (ex. How did your interview go? What time are we meeting for dinner? What was that store you were talking about? You get the point.) I mean I have a very, very small group of friends that I actually enjoy having longer phone conversations with... but I have to be in the mood for it.

And since I'm rarely in the mood to talk, most of the time when people call me I ignore their phone calls. Isn't that horrible? It's not because I don't love the person... it's just that I'm not a phone talker. So whenever I'm in the mood to be on the phone, I'll do my rounds and call my friends that I don't get to see in person.

The problem is, until this past weekend, I didn't realize pressing the "Ignore" button on my BlackBerry sends my phone right to voicemail. I just figured it silenced the ring and the person on the other end continued to hear ringing until my voicemail picked up.

My brother Kevin informed me that no, in fact, it is extremely obvious to the person on the other line when you ignore their phone call. So I called Kevin's phone as a test and he ignored the call. Sure enough, it rang about 1.5 times and then the voicemail picked up.

Oops!

So now I feel the need to explain to all my friends that yes, I have ignored your calls hundreds of times. No it's not because I don't love you. It's because I don't love the phone.