It's almost always the way

Earlier this morning, there was a phone call I wanted to make. However, because the line was engaged I decided to leave it a few minutes and then try again.

Cue a slight tangent. My current landline phone enables me to categorise the people stored in my phonebook into groups and assign specific ringtones for those groups.

I was just on my way to the bathroom when I heard the familiar sound of Scott Joplin's The Entertainer; the ringtone assigned to 'Family'. I let out a groan because I was 99.9% certain that I knew who the caller was... My Mother! Scream 

After doing what I needed to do in the bathroom, I then popped into my son's bedroom and realised that my mother had obviously tried phoning him too.

Anyway, my mother had left us both messages asking us to phone her back, although she didn't say why. From the perspective of my son and I, we consider messages like that to be the worst kind. It's the fear of not knowing the reason WHY my mother wishes to speak to us unless we pluck up the courage to contact her. 

It has been said that we should do one thing every day that scares us. Given the choice, I think I would rather walk around outside naked, in broad daylight. If the tone of my mother's voice was anything to go by, I'm guessing she has a problem that I won't be able to assist her with anyway.

Do you receive phone calls from specific people that fill you with dread? If so, please feel free to share.

Parents
  • It’s the same for me, I try to answer the phone but struggle with normal people, when it’s mothers calling I  feel like a “rabbit in the headlights.”  I’m sure sometimes I could just hold the phone away from me, let her carry on and just say yes every few minutes. I felt sorry for her so  my wife invited her for Sunday lunch, it was just peck at me for several hours. The start was, “you never answer your phone!” “ You should have your teeth looked at,” then, “ it was that dentist’s fault for holding you down when young.” I tried to explain I was having a meltdown when I was being held down, why would I dislike a dentist if I had never seen one? A later trip resulted in me  biting a dentist and trying to climb out the window, that took 4 to hold me down. I explained how I can’t have anyone that near to my head and put things in my mouth.  The reply was, ”No you just don’t like the dentist.” The evening news then came on and the answer to nearly every subject was either hang them or National Service would sort them out.  I actually don’t have a house phone anymore, I just have my mobile. All calls are along the lines of, the fence has blown over, the sewer is blocked or there’s a letter that I must act on. Never hello, how are you. Sorry ranting now.

  • On the rare occasions that I receive calls from other people I know well, I generally don't have an issue answering the phone. When it is my mother though, "rabbit in the headlights" sums it up perfectly.

    I consider it sad that your mother doesn't think to ask you how you are. Sometimes my mother will ask me, but it often causes me to feel like it's an interrogation. If I then give an honest answer, I usually end up regretting it.

Reply
  • On the rare occasions that I receive calls from other people I know well, I generally don't have an issue answering the phone. When it is my mother though, "rabbit in the headlights" sums it up perfectly.

    I consider it sad that your mother doesn't think to ask you how you are. Sometimes my mother will ask me, but it often causes me to feel like it's an interrogation. If I then give an honest answer, I usually end up regretting it.

Children
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