—The dreaded phone. Why is it hard? Why does anyone like it? Why do people try to force us to use it? —
I simply cannot do phones unless I am talking to someone I am comfortable with, such as my husband, a close friend, or close family member. I go non-verbal, my brain freezes up, and words do not want to work if I have to talk to someone I do not know on the phone. There are a few instances where I can talk myself into calling places. In those situations, I rely on scripts I have written up to read from. If the conversation deviates from what I have scripts for then I start having issues.
When I was younger I could talk to friends on the phone for hours – keyword there is “friends”. Now I very much prefer to talk to my friends online via some kind of chat interface. Sometimes we do Skype calls or Discord calls, and those freak me out as well, unless (again) with really close friends.
I hate hate hate having to use the phone to make any sort of appointments. I do not understand why places cannot accept emailed answers to their questions. It would be so much easier for both parties, as most of the time the people on the other end of the phone seem to mishear me. For most of my appointments, I found ZocDoc which allows me to make them online, but sometimes places still want to call me, which is highly aggravating.