When My Phone Rings

I was chatting with some colleagues the other day and apart from the fact that we work in the same place, we all had one other thing in common. 

When our phone's ring, our hearts sink.

It doesn't matter whether it's the middle of the day in the middle of the week, in the evening, early in the morning or over the weekend. If it's the middle of the night, as I struggle to get my brain cogs turning, I know for sure that this sinking feeling is an indication that in the next 5 minutes I'm going to have to drag myself out of bed and go to work.

The first thing that any of us think any time that we hear our phone ringing is

"bugger, what's gone wrong at the factory now? I hope I don't have to go in."

We never think, oh, it must be my friend calling to meet for drinks or dinner. The thought of parents calling to say hello is the furtherest thing from our minds when our phones ring. 

Instead our hearts start pumping and adrenaline starts building up, preparing you for the inevitable call to work because something has gone wrong and you're the lucky person who has to go in and fix it - possibly for unknown hours on end.

Even when we're expecting a call from someone, that feel of dread rises up until we see the number. If we're lucky enough that it's a friend or family member, we start to breathe and calm the panic that started to flutter in our stomachs. If it's someone from work, you can be guaranteed that in the next minute or so you're going to need to drop what you're doing and prepare yourself to go to battle. Yes, battle. Adrenaline then really gets pumping and only stops when you've solved the problem and are back home.

Private numbers are the worst. 

Because at work all the landlines are set to private number. You should generally answer private number calls during business hours. Even though private number calls also turn out to be those annoying people who are trying to sell you another cell phone contract or insurance that you don't need and can't afford. Or it's some bloody annoying person/program that calls your number 5 times a day EVERY DAY and hangs up as soon as you answer the phone. 

I've taken to waiting a few seconds before saying hello when I get called on private number, because if it happens to be that stupid "hanging up" person I want to waste as much of their airtime as possible. Then I suspiciously speak and only once the person has introduced themselves to me (and I've verified that they're not from work or trying to sell me something) then I become friendly.

I don't know if other people have this problem with their work. But we do. And the fact that my colleagues feel the same way that I do makes me feel a little better about hating it when my phone rings.