You know my name, look up the number...

The modern world has destroyed my concept of multitasking. The other day my grandmother called and I immediately asked, "What are you up to?" (which is what I always ask when I get on the phone with someone). And she said, "Well I'm calling you."

Oh.

Right.

Placing a phone call IS an activity. Typically, making a phone call is something I do when I "have some free time": i.e. when I'm walking somewhere, or cleaning something, or baking a cake. Because God forbid anyone ever actually sit in one spot and perform one activity at a time, on a phone that only performs the function of making phone calls.

Do you remember the last time you answered a landline phone and had to make an excuse for someone who was there but didn't want to take the call?

"Hello?"
"Hey, is Bob there?"
(Bob gesturing frantically in the background)
"Uhh, no, Bob went out to buy a can of catfood, can I take a message?"

Or my favorite, the passive aggressive refusal to make excuses:

"Hello?"
"Hey, is Bob there?"
(Bob gesturing frantically in the background)
"Yeah! He's right here. He's been waiting for your call!"

This happens to some degree in an office, but is way less fun because of Caller-ID and voice mail and general office etiquette.

I'm not saying that I want to go back to a world without cell phones. But it was kind of cool to have everyone's phone number actually memorized in my actual, real brain (how many phone numbers do you have memorized now?), and I liked answering the house phone and getting to talk to whomever called for a second before passing it off to my mom, or dad or whoever. Conversely, I always liked calling my friends and talking to their moms for a second before they got on the phone. And knowing that if they didn't want to talk to me, they had to fess up and make an excuse instead of just ignoring me and letting it go to voice mail.

Sooooo passive aggressive.

Ahhh them good old days. I think I can feel the rain a'comin' in my bum knee.