Addendum: One good thing about cellphones is how common dropped calls are. If I am talking to someone and cannot get off the phone, I say, “hello…helloo…you are breaking up…Oh well, talk to ya later…click”.
I hate phones, I ignore the at work, luckily its a communal phone so if it rings long enough someone will answer it but it will not be me. At home my cell rings about once a week usually from one of three people so then I answer it as I want to speak to them but I still check caller id first to see if its is someone I do not want to talk to.
Hate it. And unfortunately, a good portion of my job involves answering the phone, talking on the phone, phoning other people, leaving messages, picking up messages, and then checking voice mail for all the calls I missed while I was making phone calls.
I really only ever talk to my husband on the phone voluntarily.
Ugh. I detest phones. I have hated them as long as I can remember. I have a cell phone. When I first got it, I got about 900 minutes a month. My reasoning was that after my boyfriend and I finally finish our breakup and I get my own place, my cell will become my primary phone. Then I checked my last two bills and realized that I used a grand total of 25 minutes over a 2 month span. I have since reduced my minutes. I have unlimited texting because my friends all either hate talking on the phone or are just incapable of it. I’ve decided that I much prefer texting. It’s enough of a chore for most people that they don’t subject me to much chat.
Today, a friend was in a panic. Man trouble. She wanted to talk. I drove 25 minutes to her house and spent my last day off for over a week comforting her just to avoid a phone call which would have been probably less than 1 hour long.
Another phone hater here. The ringing phone actually raised hackles I didn’t know I had so I changed it to a bird chirpy sound. The hackles have settled down but I still hate the darned thing.
I LOATHE, hate, and despise that evil, evil telecommunications device, oftentimes I wonder if Alexander Graham Bell understood the true nature of the Evil he loosed upon the world…
I have to deal with phone calls from idiots who shouldn’t be operating any mechanical device simpler than a toaster, for 8 hours a day, i tend to take a homicidal approach to the phone ringing, the sound of a phone ring triggers my instinctive “MACTECH SMASH PHONE!!!” reaction, which i have to suppress…
So, it goes without saying, after dealing with the sodding thing for 8 hours at work, the LAST thing I want to deal with at home is the frelling phone, my ringer is turned off, I have an angry-sounding “this had better be frakking important” style greeting on the answering machine** and I screen ALL my calls, I only pick up the phone if it’s a family member, or a couple of my old college freinds, everyone else leaves a message (if the greeting hasn’t scared them into hanging up first, that is) and I might return the call if I feel like it, when I can get around to it…
thankfully, the Do-Not-Call list has eliminated telemarketer calls…
** My answering machine message is me saying in a cold, dead, yet slightly angry and menacing tone;
“You know the routine…leave a message”
the tone in my voice basically says "there had better be a fucking good reason for you to call this number…
I’ve had many people remark on how scary my greeting message is, and i get a lot of hang-ups…
…so the message is doing it’s job quite well then, I want them to hang up and not leave a message, I sure as hell don’t want to talk to them…
I don’t think the phone is inherently evil, I think phone calls are just too easy and cheap now. No more party lines, no more rotary dials, cheap long distance.
To make matters worse, there’s a telemarketing company in a little mini-mall about 5 minutes away from the house, every time I drive past it, I have to suppress various urges;
1; climb the side of the building and cut the phone line going into the building, preventing them from bugging people
2; walking in there and berating them into getting a job that doesn’t involve pissing people off and hawking useless crap
3; going in with my paintball marker and bunkering the lot of them 
4; designing some form of EMP weapon or computer virus to fry their computers
in the end, i simply snarl at them as i drive past and ignore them, it’s for the best, really…
Not entirely. I got a solicitation call to my cell phone the other day. The company was hired by a non-profit to solicit donations for them. I marked that particular non-profit off my list for any donations evar.
ANNE!!!
Hee hee hee hee hee…
I am amazed that so many other people realize the idea that anyone who can push a few buttons has the right to take up your time with their idiot drivel is not always a good thing.
The people I work with have a favorite line “Why didn’t you call me?” Because I didn’t feel like talking to you.
I do not have a home phone. The office pays for the cell phone I take home, which I only do if there is an emergency. I’ve used it twice in 10 years, and once was to call in sick!
I hate the phone too! I really like to be able to see someone’s face and body language while I’m talking to them, and if I can’t, I’m not interested. My family knows to email me if they really need something. My boyfriend and I talk by text, email or in person only, unless there is an emergency. The phone annoys me every time it rings, but I do pick it up. Sadly.
The slightly ironic thing? My job is answering the phone all day. Although I think that if most people answered 60-80 phone calls a day, they wouldn’t be too keen on it when they got home either…
I have a phone phobia - always have! Even as a teenager I would often ignore my phone ringing (my parents were astonished that a 14-year-old girl who insisted on having her own phone line could resist the temptation to answer).
I hate to make calls and I hate to answer them. Caller ID is great, but I rarely need it, because I won’t answer anyway (unless it is my husband).
Email has made it easier for me to indulge this phobia.
Ironically, most of my jobs have included receptionist duties.
I just hate talking on the phone after a while because I get antsy, and the fact is, my ears literally hurt after about twenty minutes.
The only time they didn’t hurt is when I was talking to my wife before we met in person for hours on end.