I am thrilled that my vote in today's primary counts. Really, I am. But I'll be even more thrilled tomorrow when the campaign calls stop. We get an average of 6 a day. Fortunately, I have caller ID on the phone, so whenever I see an 866 number or an area code I don't recognize I let the call go to the answering machine. But that still means there are 6 messages I have to clear off later because the OCD part of me can't stand having old messages on the answering machine. I'm the same way with e-mails too.
Every time I grumble about this, like I did at 8:30 last night when the phone rang with a campaign call for the third time in half an hour, my husband suggests that I simply turn off the ringer. But it's just not that simple. First, if it's during the day, I need to have the ringer on just in case one of the girls' schools needs to reach me for something. Granted, in the four years that I've had a child in preschool or school, this has happened exactly ONCE, but it could still happen again.
Second, and this is the sad part and I'm not meaning to seem glib, my beloved grandmother is dying. Saturday we got word that she had stopped responding and wasn't eating or drinking. She had left instructions that she wasn't to be given food and water by artificial means, so she's being kept comfortable and we're just waiting for the inevitable phone call. Since getting that news, I jump every time the phone rings, and my heartrate goes through the roof. So having the phone ring so many times during the day with recorded messages from candidates and on behalf of candidates isn't doing my nerves any good. Each time the phone rings I'm sure it's my parents with sad news and I start preparing myself for the worst, only to see the 866 number on the caller ID.
This afternoon, once I finish a conference call for work, I'll be taking the kids with me to vote and then looking forward to the silence of the phone - at least until November.
5 comments:
Those, and the charity calls, drive me absolutely crazy. Or just as bad, the "sales" calls from the companies you "already have a relationship with." Yeah, if I have need of your services and I already have a relationship with you, calling me and bugging me about it is a good way to make me not call you when I need it.
Oy, sorry, the MOST important thing I meant to say is that I'm sorry about your grandmother (got distracted by having to pick up my son at school with idontwannagotoschoolitis). I went through it with both of my beloved grandparents, and it's hard, even when death comes as a relief because it ends their suffering. I'm here if you need someone to listen.
Good wishes to your grandmama... and you, too...
I'm so sorry about your grandmother.
But I had exactly the same response to the primaries being over. I never answer my phone normally (hate the phone) but my house is on the market and that means I HAVE to answer the phone and when it's the candidates on prerecorded messages--well, it's not pretty.
I'm so sorry about your grandmother. It's a difficult time, for sure.
Best,
Wendi
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