Do you run to answer the phone, or hope someone else will get it? Do you screen your calls? Which do you pick up? Which do you ignore?

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

Answers

We have Caller ID. Lately I don't answer the phone unless I have to. It's only ever one of three or four people calling. I always pick up for long distance, though.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

I can't screen my calls because I have voice mail. I just don't pick it up if I don't feel like talking, but I have the check the VM as soon as it stops ringing.

My husband couldn't answer the phone to save his life and my kids won't either, so it's up to me.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

I have caller id and I use it to screen calls big time. I am always late on my bills so it gets me out of talking to them til the check *is really* on it's way. I never use it to return calls from people who didn't leave a message though. I don't like it when people do that. I once had someone bitch me out for 20 minutes about using caller id and how it screwed with "FATE"... yeah, whatever.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

I definitely screen my calls. I have voice messaging and Caller ID. The Caller ID is great, but we still got lots of annoying sales calls. Finally we got the 'anti-solicitor' feature, which is a little voice recording before ringing our phone informing callers that we don't accept solicitors and to remove us from their calling lists, then "press 1" to ring through if the caller is not a solicitor. We went from getting 10-20 annoying junk calls to zero, literally overnight!

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

We have Call Display and I use it most of the time except for yesterday when I picked up expecting it would be my mother, and it was Gail! What pleasant surprise! Lots of times I won't pick up because I'm watching something on TV and eating dinner and I don't want to be interrupted. I even have Call Display on my cellphone.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

Nope, never do. There's nobody else to answer the phone and if it's a solicitor I just dismiss them by saying "put me on your do not call list." I have an answering machine but choose not to pay for caller i.d.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

We have two phone lines. One number is the one we give whenever we're forced to give one for business purposes or other public transactions. It's the number printed on our checks, and that kind of thing. It has voicemail on it, and I almost never answer it, because it's almost always a solicitor calling.

The other phone line is the one we call "The Bat Phone." This number is guarded jealously; only our families and a handful of trusted friends have it. The criteria for getting the bat phone number is, you must be someone we would never want to screen. Someone whose voice never fails to lift our spirits and enliven our day.

Of course, at the moment I happen to be pissed off at one of those trusted friends...so, I'm screening with an answering machine!

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

I use caller ID to screen calls. If it is unavailable it is almost always a solicitor so I don't answer; they can leave a message. Otherwise it depends on who's calling and if I want to talk with them right then.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

Bat Phone -- ha! I call mine the Kremlin Line. That's what Gail named it. Maggie, did Gail say where the hell she was? Hey...maybe I can call her or something. There's an idea!

But actually, my Kremlin Line is also my modem line, so it's usually busy.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2000

My phone rarely rings when I'm home (I know, boo-hoo) so I don't screen. Luckily, the telemarketers seem to call when I'm out in the evening, but for some reason they don't recognize that my answering machine is not a real person and they give me their schpiel (sp?) and then go, "hello...? hello?" Dumb-asses!

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2000

The phone rings. I don't want to talk. But I do want to know who is calling. I hesitate. I nearly pick up several times. I either catch it right at the end or have to wait for call answer.

I used to have call display and then I'd be like, mmmmm it's my father in law. I don't want to talk to him. Well maybe he has news I want to hear. No probably not. An emergency? What are the chances?

Call display was costing me too much since I have the exact same anxiety attack whether or not I know who it is.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2000

I screen when people call when I'm in bed. That can be more often than I'd like to admit. I've even gotten out of the bath to take a phone call, and had conversations in the tub.

Otherwise, I don't screen because I'm genuinely NOT THERE. We don't have caller ID at home anyway (but at work we do and it's great).

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2000

I just put semi-nasty phone messages on the machine. My latest one mentions that we're on the state No-call list. If telemarketing companies call you and you're on the no-call list, you get some cash. Sure, there are a few exceptions, but I CAN'T STAND TELEMARKETERS! I feel very sorry for them, but I STILL CAN'T STAND THEM! I answer the phone when I'm home, though, and give out vastly conflicting, wrong information in a long-drawn out, rambling manner. Might as well make 'em pay for their shotgun marketing.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2000

i will talke to any one who calls cuz i just like to talk on the phone. i dont ever by anything cuz im always broke but i figure these people are just loney so i talk to them

-- Anonymous, September 08, 2000