[NT] Do you answer your phone?

[Natrushka]

And what type are you? My burning questions this morning.

Do you answer your phone?

I very rarely answer my phone. If I know I'm expecting a call (husband calls every night at x o'clock while working a certain shift), I'll pick it up, but generally I let it ring. I don't even go listen to the answering machine. And I wont get call display, because I'm not interested in seeing who's calling. Plus I don't want to have to deal with "you saw it was me, why didn't you answer".

And what type are you?

INTJ

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I live with an introvert who answers the phone. Even when he knows he shouldn't (i.e., when he knows his dad is calling and it's going to be a Bad Call). To him a ringing phone must be answered (he's an SJ btw). To me a ringing phone must be silenced - (by setting answering machine to two rings, or turning the ringer off). While I think introversion plays a part in this, I think there are other factors at work.

I hate being interupted. H-a-t-e-i-t. That's what the phone is to me, an interuption. I know I'm not alone.

 

[htb]

If my service's caller ID shows a number that isn't likely to be a solicitor's, I pick up the phone.

 

[Wolf]

Do you answer your phone?

Yes, when I feel like it. I probably pass on at least 2/3rds of the calls I get on my cell... I love the "quit ringing" button. However, I pick up the remainder, check voicemail (I rarely call people that leave them back unless there's some real reason to do so), and I pick up ones I don't recognize (so the morons will quit calling).

And what type are you? Look to the left of this post.

My mother doesn't pick up the phone, either, she hates to. It's highly annoying. I get the voice mail and I know it's pointless to leave a message because she will never listen to it (I can't seem to train her). Worse yet, she's confused by the caller ID, which means she often doesn't even realize who called.

 

[Totenkindly]

I almost never answer the phone. I will screen calls (i.e., check caller ID) and pick up if it's my spouse or children, or a call that I am expecting -- but almost never anyone else. And I never answer the phone during dinner.

I hate being interrupted; and I hate having my schedule be someone else's, just because they called me. I figure I can call them back when I've made some time to do so, if they need a call back.

I often have to bite back anger when I let the phone go and I hear my kids run to answer it -- because often it's for me, and now they've forced me to take the call.

 

[Ivy]

I'm an unabashed call screener of ambiguous type.

 

[Splittet]

I get a call about every second week, so sure, I answer, if I hear it anyway.

 

[rivercrow]

Depends on my mood and whether I have some way to silence the ringer.

 

[Natrushka]

I often have to bite back anger when I let the phone go and I hear my kids run to answer it -- because often it's for me, and now they've forced me to take the call.

It took me five years to train the SJ that if I didn't pick up the phone, and he did, they were his problem, not mine. Oh, the anger.

 

[Ivy]

Oh, I've totally already trained my little E to wait and hear if it's Daddy or Nana before picking it up. Otherwise, I'll call them back, whoever it is. And if it's Nana, she's talking to her herself. And never, under ANY circumstances, is she to pick up if it's a certain grandmother who can gab for hours and wants to talk to everyone before she hangs up. (Noah will be on the phone with his mom for an hour, and then when he hangs up I'll ask what she had to say, and he'll say "The dog is eighty pounds now, her thumb feels better, and she sold three cases of pickles last week." I love her dearly but I can't handle the phone calls unless I pick the time.)

 

[substitute]

I answer if I feel like it, or not if I don't. If I really don't, I unplug it. I do have caller ID, because sometimes I may feel like answering the phone, only to find that it's someone I don't want to talk to, like my ex or the bank manager, for example, or someone who's bound to be asking me to do something.

If people ask why I didn't pick up when I knew it was them, I just say I didn't look at the caller ID, cos I was busy doing something else. Or I just say I didn't feel like picking up the phone that time. If they take issue with that, I tell them that a telephone is there so you can be contacted when you want to be, not so that everyone and his wife can contact you whenever they want, at their convenience. I ask them if they'd think it was okay to go knocking on people's doors without notice all the time, expecting them to let you into their house, drop everything and talk to them, no matter what? Cos that's what you're doing when you're phoning someone - invading their home with your presence, which they're by no means obliged to tolerate/accept unless they want to.

I don't answer the phone compulsively, and people who do (and who think everyone should) get on my nerves. Like people whose cellphone rings in the middle of a conversation at a dinner date they made with you, and rather than switch it off (as I would, before I arrived even), they answer it and spend the next half an hour having a totally separate conversation from the others at the table, while the others don't know whether they should carry on or wait for them to finish. Very rude, IMO.

And ENTP, if it wasn't obvious

My eldest daughter, the ENFJ, however, is like a meerkat. Every time a pin drops in the other hemisphere, she's popping her head up and looking out of the window to see if it's someone for her. It's kinda like having my own butler - I never have to get up to answer the door when she's around. She's there before the bell's even finished ringing. But even with the doorbell, I always check through the spyhole if it's someone I want to see, before opening up.

 

[FemMecha]

Do you answer the phone...

Yes. Unless it's an intrusion. If I have just sat down to eat and am starved, I'll let the machine get it. I don't want to feel bothered by someone I like. I always check the machine. Since I mostly freelance, the phone is a rather important feature for my eventual income. Tons of scheduling of gigs and teaching.

Type
INFJ (rather strong T)

 

[Randomnity]

Do you answer your phone?
Almost never, unless I'm expecting a call (rarely). All my friends know to leave me a message on msn instead (I don't even give my number out)...so the only people who call are family and telemarketers. I haven't figured out which one is worse. I also never check my messages because they're never for me and I know someone else will check them.

And what type are you?

ISTP (with INTP leanings)

 

[Haight]

No!

 

[Varelse]

Yes, because it's the family phone and I thus cannot turn the ringing off.:steam:

Type, INTP.

 

[cafe]

Do you answer your phone?
I'm usually the only one in the house who will answer the phone. If it's a friend or family and I'm not really busy, I will normally answer. I love caller ID and don't use an answering machine. I don't like listening to the messages.

And what type are you?
INFJ

 

[curmudgeon]

Do you answer your phone?

My phone rings so rarely, I get an angry visceral feeling when it ting-a-lings. I HATE talking on the phone and resent being interrupted, unless the call has a specific purpose (as in, "This is Crate and Barrel calling; your chairs will be delivered tomorrow"). Thank you. Click. Buh-bye.

I have called ID because I want to know who I am ignoring.

The phone (like my mobile) is for my convenience. If someone needs to track me down that desperately, they can call the cops.

And what type are you?

INTJ

 

[Nighthawk]

I will pick up my cell, as very few people call me on it and it is usually something important, or semi-important.

My home phone however, can ring until doomsday and I won't pick it up. I want to be left alone at home. Most people who call me there usually want something from me, even if it is only to waste my time. Some times I will screen the caller ID, but only if I'm not engaged in something else.

My ISFJ wife will pick up almost every call. As stated earlier, it took me years to make her realize that it was her responsibility if she picked up ... and not to transfer it to me. She has a rather large family, so most of the calls are for her anyway.

 

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

We never pick up the phone (thank you, caller id) unless we recognize the number. Even then, we may or may not answer it.

 

[Ivy]

Yep. I don't even answer for friends unless I truly am in the mood to talk to them right at that time. They all know this about me and I'm sure they find it a little quirky, but it hasn't made anybody mad yet. Unless they're silently fuming about it, which seems like a personal problem to me.

 

[niffer]

Yes, because the ringing is annoying and the people will scream at me about it eventually if I don't. Usually, I'm expecting the call too, or I told them to call me. But if I'm in the shower, I will NEVER, NEVER pick up the phone.