I don’t like the phone. Anyone who does is either crazy or has never worked in a telephone technical support capacity. I liked the phone when I was in high school, well before that ill-advised stint in telephone solicitation of magazine sales (Alberta Report if you must know; a rather conservative fluff magazine). I didn’t really have a huge problem with the phone after that, but a period of time in college with easily accessible credit cards lead to a bit of an influx in unwanted calls from jerks. It’s a bit of a Pavlovian response, I suppose, but I hear a phone ring, and I die a little inside.

That’s the big benefit with cell phones as far as I’m concerned; they don’t sound like normal phones, and I can see your number appear. If I don’t know the number, I’ll only answer it if I’m expecting a call from an unknown number. Sometimes I’ll answer for sheer curiosity, but not frequently.

If you call me once per hour all day and don’t leave a voice mail, I’m not likely to ever pickup that number. I will add you to my phone’s directory under the name of “Don’t answer” in order to remind myself that you’re someone I don’t want to talk to.

So, if you’re calling from 604-249-3579 and not leaving a message, I’m talking about you. Google and the local white pages lookups don’t come up with anything on this number, so I’m assuming it’s someone’s cell phone and they don’t have an online presence. Why would I want to talk to someone who doesn’t have a web page with their phone number on it?

LEAVE A MESSAGE; that’s what voice mail is for.