Leave A Message!

I never answer my home phone.
That is why I have an 'answering' machine....'Please leave a message...BEEEEEEP.'
(Note: One acception to my rule is if I hear my kids voices...THEN I answer.)
I quit answering my phone when I was going through my divorce---almost 8 years ago---mainly because the phone calls were NEVER good ones. (That, and the fact my X's voice gives me hives.)
I also feel like my home is my sanctuary---if I don't want to talk, I don't have to.
Some other family members of mine, feel quite differently.
It actually pisses them off that I do not answer the phone!
They truly believe, like Pavlov's dogs hearing the bell, that the phone must be answered---no matter what you are doing....
Changing a diaper, making dinner, in the bathroom, throwing up, sleeping, watching a movie, playing with your kids,your hair is on fire, etc. NOT an excuse to ignore the phone. ('What is WRONG with you? You never answer the phone!!!!')
These same people will stop dead in their tracks, in the middle of a face to face conversation, to go scurry off and answer their cell phone, as well.
Wonder if they ever think about what it says to the person with whom you are within actual breathing distance of, that that tingaling-ing, or groovy melody, coming from their purse could be more important than the 'right here, right now'.
Seriously.
I mean, I understand if you are on a transplant waiting list, and they will call you when the new heart arrives---but I think they give out beepers for that...
We have become a society of common courtesy morons controlled by that damn ringer/beeper/vibrating phone!
When I see a mom picking up her kids from school, and she is talking on her cell the whole time, I seriously have the urge to grab the phone out of her hands, break it in half, and stomp it to bits.
....what is she saying to her kid?
'Sorry honey, mommy has to talk to Bipsy about our tennis match tomorrow....'
(Again, my apologies if she were discussing the heart transplant.)
So, I usually do not answer my cell either---but it has caller ID...my home phone does not.
So all yall that get pissed off because I don't answer my phone? I am not ignoring, or shunning you...no, I am not 'mad'...I am busy.
Leave a message...I'll get back to you when I finish what I am doing 'here and now'.