The ceremony of the telephone
Monday, 17. July 2006, 23:36:41
There is a whole ceremonial around the telephone at my parents', that I take a certain pleasure to witness. The time is chosen carefully, and generally well in advance. Their side of the conversation is often prepared, sometimes even rehearsed. A list of topics may be written, too. Spare paper and pencil are made available, of course. Reference material, related documents, files, copies, depending on the nature of the call, are brought in.
Before there was a cordless phone in their home, my parents would take the telephone to the living room table, as close to my mother's papers and documents as its cord would allow, and she would place it carefully next to her notes.
Since the arrival of the cordless phone, the ceremonial of the telepone takes place in the living room for business matters, or in the kitchen for personal matters.
In any case, my mum and dad sit next to each other. In any case, the loudspeaker is on. More often than not, my mum does the talking ;) It's funny how loud she speaks when she's on the phone. She denies speaking louder, of course ;)
I'm not such a phone person myself. I seldom place phone calls, sometimes fail to return them (bad me). People are kind enough with me to not bear grudges.
I've had my current cellphone for two years and a half and here are the duration counts:
It's a little late now and I'm a tad tired (and I suck at maths, granted), but I think that amounts to about 3 minutes per day. Heh, not that bad, after all.
Before there was a cordless phone in their home, my parents would take the telephone to the living room table, as close to my mother's papers and documents as its cord would allow, and she would place it carefully next to her notes.
Since the arrival of the cordless phone, the ceremonial of the telepone takes place in the living room for business matters, or in the kitchen for personal matters.
In any case, my mum and dad sit next to each other. In any case, the loudspeaker is on. More often than not, my mum does the talking ;) It's funny how loud she speaks when she's on the phone. She denies speaking louder, of course ;)
I'm not such a phone person myself. I seldom place phone calls, sometimes fail to return them (bad me). People are kind enough with me to not bear grudges.
I've had my current cellphone for two years and a half and here are the duration counts:
Received calls' duration: 47:57:54 Dialled calls' duration: 50:06:24
It's a little late now and I'm a tad tired (and I suck at maths, granted), but I think that amounts to about 3 minutes per day. Heh, not that bad, after all.
A lot of people speak louder on the phone. It's funny, it's as if they are trying to shoout down the line. But it can also be hard to hear people - I turn my phone volume as high as it can go, but have noticed that other people don't always do this. Maybe they're not deaf yet.
I used to run up huge phone bills, and spend a lot of time on the telephone. Then I realised that I didn't really like talking to people on the phone. Now I quite often leave the thing off, and I am pretty bad about answering messages (although my voice mail does say so...).
I wonder how much all that noise in my ears has affected my hearing. I don't spend that much time listening to music with headphones, although I suppose I did for a couple years when I was at school.
By chaals, # 19. July 2006, 14:12:48