Monday, April 26, 2010

Ring Tones

So last week a friend called me to say hi. He is someone with whom I enjoy conversation and it was nice to hear from him. We caught up about this and that -a little business, a little personal, a little bit about plans for the weekend - the usual stuff about which friends chat.

Then, apparently, I freaked him out by telling him he has his own ring tone. I could hear it in his voice... umm okayyyy, I have a ring tone (nervous chuckle) awkward silence. 

I paused to think about it, and, as I seem to be doing more of lately, I considered it briefly in someone else's pair of shoes - specifically, his (gawd I look hideous in a pair of men's size 8 1/2 or whatever they are). I guess it could startle a person - especially someone who knows me well, but not that well yet.

The clouds parted and I saw the light after a separate and unrelated conversation with another friend about psychotic people - or more accurately, women.

Its all making sense to me now, and makes me wonder what lengths a gal has to go to so that people believe that what you see is what you get.

Ring tones for me are a matter of practicality. My blackberry is my life: my business life, my family life, my social life, my volunteer life. And in my life people fall into four basic categories:  people with whom I want to speak, people with whom I have to speak, people I with whom I can't be bothered and will always send to voicemail so I can return the call when I'm psyched up for the conversation, and people who are teetering on the brink of a couple of different categories. Enter the ring tone.

My husband and kids each have one. They fall into categories one and two.  Tracey has one, although I have no idea why because apparently people under 40 don't talk on phones - they only text, BBM, or IM. I called Tracey once, and she was like, 'why are you calling me'. Oh I don't know, maybe its because I refuse to get bifocals and I can't illegally text and drive with her ease...  But I digress.

In an earlier post I spoke of cleaning house and the list of real friends getting shorter. Well it is. And they all have ring tones. There's nothing scary about that.... no neediness, no clinging on for dear life. Just an easy way to tell, in the odd event that my phone is more than 18 inches away from my person, whether or not it is is worth jumping for.

If its just a plain ring, it doesn't have life or death significance, usually. If it is someone trying to sell me something they can wait. If it is a new or prospective client, I'll return the call within 10 minutes. I really do have to kill the notion that I am an automated realtor who takes calls 24 hours a day. Sometimes I actually have lunch or take a bathroom break, and at neither time do I wish to prove my multitasking prowess.

Ah but a ring tone - that is absolutely going to be a friendly voice and a nice break in my day. Do you have yours yet?

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