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Imagine this:
You just āe-metā someone on LinkedIn, email or Skype and are about to talk about business. Then the other person suddenly says: āLetās just on aĀ callā.
WTF? WHY would you want to doĀ that???
First of all. I donāt ājumpā on aĀ calls.
Second- I hate calls, and here isĀ why.
The call always comes in a badĀ time
In 99% of the time you are either working, eating, having a break, doing sports, taking a loo or doing something else important and then that stupid call comes in, and you have stop everything you are doing and answer it. Thereās practically never a good time for a call (unless of course you scheduled it before), because I donāt remember ever sitting and thinking: āhmm, now it would be a good time if someone gave me coldĀ callā.
The call takes all your attention
When ever someone calls you, you have to stop what ever you are doing and focus 100% on that call. You canāt do anything that requires your attention at the same time. But for example when you are using instant messaging apps, you can very well can continue working and checking messages every coupleĀ minutes.
You can only talk to one person at aĀ time
This may not happen often to you, but occasionally in the busiest time of the day you find yourself having a Skype or Telegram conversation with several different people on the same time. Now how would you image doing it on the phone? This is also the reason why in customer service, chat support if much more effective than phone support, you can serve more clients in the sameĀ time.
On the phone you have to react instantly
Normally you would need on average 1 minute to listen, understand, analyze and reply, but the phone you donāt have time to think, because fast-paced based discussion requires you to say something right away, even if you donāt know what to. Our brain cannot generate answer immediately out of the blue, you need some time to analyze information. When writing, you can easily take 1 minute pause to think, but on the phone 1 minute of silence would be very awkward andĀ odd.
Thereās no time to checkĀ facts
Phone conversation is often very fast-paced. You donāt have time to valid information on the Internet, but have to rely only on the knowledge you already have. This could create problems when the other person is lying to you, or simply being wrong. Also in a business call you will often discuss matters that needs preparing or information gathering, and when on the phone you will simply not have time forĀ that.
Over half of what you said or heard on the phone will be instantly forgotten
Human memory is not perfect, we forger lot of things and we forget them fast. In fact we forget way over 95% of what we do. If that phone call was important we may remember half of it for a day, but after a month, it will be good if we even recall of having that conversation. However when we use written communication 100% of hat we say is recorded forever. This may become very vital in case of disputes, when we simply canāt remember what we agreed on. Just remember, how often you had an argument with a friend, simply because one of you forgot what you agreed on in the firstĀ place.
Other reasons
The reasons mentioned above are common ones, that everybody would agree with. But in addition to that I have lot of personal reasons why I donāt like phone calls, some of which may be relevant to someĀ people.
I just donāt like phoneĀ calls
I donāt know how it can be a good idea in someoneās head to jump on a call, after you said āhelloā for the first time to someone on LinkedIn. You have no idea if heās gonna offer you anything good, or just waste your time, but still you want become emotionally involved with him by starting a phone conversation.
Writing is easier thanĀ talking
For me writing is much more easier, faster and convenient way of communicating with someone. It would never come to my mind, to call someone, because Iām perfectly happy with messaging with him. Thereās simply absolutely no need for that, so why to do something that is not needed norĀ wanted?
You have to prepare for theĀ call
When writing due to possibility of taking short paused you have time to plan your next sentence, but on the phone it really has to be planned in advance and maybe even written down. This makes phone conversation harder and more stressful than simple instant messaging.
The 9th Circle of Hell: VideoĀ Calls
The only thing I hate more than normal calls are video calls. Itās a combination of everything that is bad in regular calls plus new additional discomforts:
- You have to dress up for a call, especially if itās with someone important. Most often you cannot just sit in your dirtyĀ T-shirt.
- You have clean up your surrounding. Depending on the angle of your web-camera, some private things may show up in the video stream. Therefore you need to remove them and clean all the mess you may have in yourĀ room.
- You have behave like you are listening. On normal call you can as well continue surfing the web, and not paying attention to what the other person tells you. But on video, he will see you, so if you are doing something else, that will beĀ noticed.
Donāt ever make me a cold call toĀ me!
If you think you are a smart ass and somehow managed to dig up my phone number and call me you made a big mistake. Trust me, you blew off your chance. The deal is off. Iām not gonna conduct any business withĀ you.
Most likely you are trying to obtrude yourself into my free time and force me to buy some shit your company is selling. And the reason you are calling is to catch me off guarded, so that you will have better chance at succeeding.
Well now, that is both rude and disrespectful, and I donāt want to engage business with a person who does not respect me, or anyone else for thatĀ matter.
How to contactĀ me?
I mostly use email, Skype and Telegram. Itās very easy to find my contact details, as I display them everywhere, even here on Medium.com. They are certainly more easier to find then my phone number, which is display nowhere. Therefore if I hear someone calling me and saying me that they āonly found my phone numberā, I will instantly know that they are both stupid andĀ lying.
When do I useĀ phone?
Donāt get me wrong, I do use phone sometimes, rarely, but I do. I talk on the phone with my wife, friends and other people I already know. But Iām not gonna ever jump on a call with someone I donāt know, because in the past when I did, 100% of that time was wasted and didnāt lead to anything fruitful. The other person was just trying to convince me doing something I didnāt want to, and the only reason he wanted to have a call in the first place, is because heās a professional salesman and thought that he would have better chance of hypnotizing me over the phone with hisĀ speech.
Show Respect
Most of the times itās the person that is offering or selling something is the one who wants to talk on the phone. So if you are the one who wants something from me, show some respect and take into account my wishes. Iām already showing you respect by giving you a chance to present yourself, so answer with the same respect and use the means of communication that IĀ prefer.
Call me a millennial (which I am), but I hate phone calls, and nothingās gonna change it. If you keep pushing me into doing something I donāt like, one thing is gonna happen: Weāre no gonna be able to work together. Youāre not Elon Musk. Youāre not gonna offer me anything unique. Most likely I will get the same offer from someone else tomorrow. Therefore if you want something from me, you gonna have to play by myĀ rules.
Why I Hate Calls was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.