In an earlier post, I discussed some of the differences between men and women. The other day at work several of us were talking about another significant one – the way we use the telephone. With Mrs. Poolman and me, there is a very clear difference in how different we view things.
Some examples:
I will answer any call, but I feel absolutely no obligation to have a lengthy conversation with who is calling.
“OK, I’ll be happy to pick you up in the morning. But I’m a little busy right now, so I need to go. See ya later.”
Boom! It’s over. That’s it. And if it’s a guy on the other end of the call, no offense is taken.
Mrs. P, on the other hand, will not answer her phone unless her called ID shows its someone with whom she wants to spend at least a half hour talking. The person calling may just have a simple question, but they won’t have the chance to ask if Mrs. P doesn’t have at least 30 minutes of free time on her hands. The same goes for outgoing calls.
“So why don’t you call Karen and ask her what time we should pick them up tomorrow?”
“No. I really don’t want to take the time right now to listen to her tell me everything she did today and everyone she talked to.”
“You do realize, don’t you that you have the power to say good-bye and hang up.”
“You’re a guy. You don’t understand.”
Yup, she’s right about that.
Then there is the issue of calling someone just to chat. I call my out-of-town family to ”chat,” because it’s the only way we can keep in touch. However, I cannot imagine calling one of my local guy-friends just to pass the time. I’m trying to imagine calling Matt the Welder.
Me: “Hey, Matt, this is Poolman. So what are you having for dinner tonight?”
Matt: “What?”
Me: “I just wanted to see what you were doing.”
Matt: “Seriously, dude. What do you need?”
Me: “No. I just called to chat. We haven’t talked in a day or two.”
Matt: “Are you drunk?”
Me: “No, but that’s not a bad idea.”
Matt: “So you want to know what I’m doing?”
Me: “Yeah.”
Matt: “I’m wasting my time talking to you. So I’m hanging up now. Don’t call me. I’ll call you. Not.” Click.