I am such a dork about the telephone. Seriously. I love getting phone calls...well, not from telemarketers, but who does? However, ask me to dial out and I get nervous. Business calls send me into a cascade of "ums" and mile-a-minute delivery. If I get an answering machine, I tend to either hang up or ramble for ages. Calling friends and acquaintances is even more nerve-wracking, for some reason. I often have the feeling that my call is interupting something vital, and that I had better hang up as soon as possible.
Case in point: This morning I was volunteering at the Farmers Market, and there was a group doing capoeira at the capital. It was very cool and had quite a crowd watching. I thought to call up a friend who lives nearby and does capoeira, to pass on the new item. As the phone was ringing, I suddenly thought, "Oh god! It's Saturday morning! What kind of a jerk calls someone at this hour on a Saturday? Aaaaaargh!" Too late. The phone was answered. Panic. "Stammer stammer blurt. That's all. Gotta go bye." Oy. I think I was actually blushing as I put my phone away.
Google tells me that I'm not the only one who doesn't like the phone, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a phobia in my case (I'm not afraid of *getting* calls.), more like major aversion paired with terminal dorkiness.
One of these days I'll just paint a big "L" on my forehead and save everyone the trouble.
