May 7, 2010

Angry Tree Huggers They Are Not...

I know I'm not the only person who doesn't like talking on the phone, but does anyone else out there have anxiety about it? Seriously, I've got issues.

I just made 2 calls. One was a bit of a tough call--I had to talk with a member of my moms' group whose dues were, well, overdue. It took me a week to work up the courage to make the call. I got worried about if she might be having trouble affording them, or was mad at the club, or something like that. I stumbled through the call, and I thought of more questions to ask her after I hung up, but overall it went well. Turns out she's planning to pay them in the next couple weeks, so no biggie. I felt dumb for feeling so nervous...but I was still nervous, and I was still SO relieved after it was over.

The other one was to our local botanic gardens to sign up for a fantastic family gardening class. It's a series they've been offering this spring. I'm really good at killing plants, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to learn how to keep them alive, and a fun thing to do with His Highness. We took the first class on how to plant seeds a month or so ago, and we now have a tray of tomatoes & cucumbers in the living room, waiting to be transplanted to the back yard if we ever get a reliable warm season (June 1st, I'm told). The cucumbers might've died while I was away last weekend, but I prefer tomatoes anyway.

The point is this--I was calling about taking a class, one of which I'd taken before. So I was familiar with the process, AND I was familiar enough with the folks at the botanic garden to know how kind and not-hostile they are. They're kind of on the tree-hugger end of the spectrum, and tree-huggers, in general, rarely yell at people who are calling to sign up for a gardening class. And still, after I had a lovely chat with the local tree-hugger and signed up and everything, I realized how nervous I was.

What's the deal with that? I have no idea. I know that I'm a nervous-type, and therefore it seems that I simply get nervous more often (even though I can hide it well). I have to give myself pep-talks for really ordinary things, and sometimes I have to settle for the fact of doing something even though I'm nervous. Because sometimes that's what has to be done.

Anyone else have quirks like this??

PS--I went to the dentist today. No cavities!! Yay me.

5 comments:

RichardB said...

Nope.

jaacs said...

I worked in call centers for 7 years or so before we had our first kid so they don't bother me too much in general.There are some calls that are less than fun to make and I totally get having to give yourself pep-talks to start, let alone get through them.

All of my quirks are of the bizarre variety. Like how I absolutely canNOT have anything hanging over the edge of the bun of my hamburgers. I've been known to pull out almost a full salad because it wasn't within the bun line.

Or how I eat a burrito. I take a bite and then push up all the filling like a tube of toothpaste before I finish off the empty tortilla.

I understand if you can't talk to me anymore.

lol

Anonymous said...

I'm the same way with the phone. Loooove email and facebook.

Judi said...

I'm not much of a phone person either. I procrastinate on lots of phone calls. I'd rather drive to a place and see if they have the specific thing I need rather than call and possibly save myself a trip. I always had a pretty big quirk about going to the dentist, so "good on you, mate" for that one, too.

bludab said...

I am terrible on the phone! I completely hate it - I'm actually putting off a couple of calls right now!