Many first time visitors to my home are surprised when they discover that I still have a landline telephone. I believe that I might be the only family member still with a landline phone except for my eighty-six year old aunt. I retired after working for BellSouth/AT&T for nearly forty years with discounted telephone and internet service rates as a retiree. I appreciate these discounts, but I'm seriously considering disconnecting the landline service. The only reason that I haven't done it sooner is because Mama hasn't had a mobile phone since she finally got rid of the flip phone that she barely used and family, friends, and church members still reach out to her on the house phone.
I'm consider ditching the landline phone for several reasons, with the ridiculous number of "Unavailable","Unknown #", Toll Free", and weird unidentifiable calls that start coming through as early as 7:00 a.m. being the main reason. I hear the phone ringing in the morning long before I come downstairs or before Mama comes upstairs. I refuse to empty the voice mailbox that has been full for longer than I can remember, so no one can even leave a voice message. Dozens of calls come through each day, sometimes from the same numbers, that frustrate me to no end. There have been some days though when I have been frustrated enough to angrily answer the call and have a little fun at the caller's expense.
Fun Call #1- One gentleman sounded so excited when I actually answered "hello", but when he asked to speak to my late husband who passed away over twelve years ago and even butchered the pronunciation of his first name, it was on and poppin. First I corrected the pronunciation of my husband's name and offered that he might want to do more research about who he was calling. I then offered to lay the phone near his urn so that he could speak to him since he passed away twelve years ago. He hung up pretty quickly and I had a good belly laugh and still do laugh when I think about it.
I started writing this post last night and as I've been finishing it this morning, three unavailable calls and one toll-free call have already come through. As always, we didn't answer them and won't answer the many that will likely follow today, unless I decide to have a little fun. Despite really wanting to disconnect this landline service because of the annoying calls, I realize that I really can't because Mama also received three calls this morning from her grandkids calling to check on her. Those three loving calls that she answered this morning confirmed that I just need to get over myself and keep ignoring the calls unless I just want to be mean and have a little fun with an annoying caller every once in a while.
"The best way to connect with someone is through a heartfelt phone call" ~ Anonymous
~ Marilyn
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