I work from home all of the time.?ÿ The problems begin when the wife is home.?ÿ Out of habit, she answers the phone when I'm not around, because it might possibly be for her.?ÿ Almost always it is for me.?ÿ This leads to awkward conversations later.
Probably ten years ago she answered the phone one day and hears, "Hello, this if Buffy.?ÿ I need Mr. Cow to fix my problem."?ÿ Immediately, Mrs. Cow is picturing some pole dancer on the other end of the phone.?ÿ She becomes quite cool but does manage to get down the phone number for me.?ÿ When I got in for the day the first thing I hear is, "Who's Buffy and what kind of problem does she have that you can fix for her?"?ÿ HellifIknow!?ÿ I'm asking, "Buffy who?"?ÿ She's not buying it.?ÿ I must already know Buffy.?ÿ I don't have a clue.?ÿ So, I call the number and land a survey job for Buffy and her husband.?ÿ Her husband was a schoolmate of my oldest daughter and his mother was a classmate of mine.?ÿ Buffy's husband makes too much money working for Chrysler in Detroit so has been investing close to home in farm land for his brothers to operate.?ÿ Buffy handles the money that her husband makes, so she's the one making the business calls.
Fast forward to today.?ÿ The stay-at-home-for-the-rest-of-the-school-year school teacher answers the phone to hear the allegedly sultry voice of Deanne.?ÿ "Hello, this is Deanne.?ÿ I need Mr. Cow to fix my problem."?ÿ A few minutes later as I'm cruising down the highway to another courthouse my phone rings.?ÿ I hear, "Buffy called but she's changed her name to Deanne."?ÿ Things went downhill from there. 😕 ?ÿ
I'm usually the one that causes the "suspicion" with business related phone calls.?ÿ?ÿ
All my rural electric co-op work begins with a work order.?ÿ On that work order is a contact name that is usually affiliated with a subscriber's account: existing or new.?ÿ For some reason it seems as though dealing with the 'electric company' is a task that falls on the feminine half of a couple living in these rural areas.?ÿ Joe Bob Reeves is the one building the new barn, and it's his phone number on the work order.?ÿ But the contact name is usually Joe Bob's wife Brenda.?ÿ So I've got a work order with a phone number and a contact name of Brenda Reeves.
As with all my field work I make contact to let everybody know I'm going to be out there "surveying" the new line.?ÿ I call the number and ask for Brenda.?ÿ Joe Bob tells me (rather assertively) ,"This is her husband, what do you need?"?ÿ Of course I roll right into my boxed spiel about needing access to do a little surveying and preparing some R/W docs...all for the greater good of getting this mess passed on to the construction crew so Joe Bob can run his Lincoln Welder in the new barn without frying the breaker box on the old 100 amp service.
Things always go well after that.?ÿ I guess it's a normal reaction for most folks.?ÿ A little bit of jealousy now and again is probably good for a marriage.?ÿ ?ÿ;)
FWIW IMHO, I'd say her-in-doors has got a good sense of humour.?ÿ
Out of habit, she answers the phone
I'm not even allowed to go near the "house phone" because if the callers ID ain't someone I recognize I press the "block" button because of those damn robocalls. ?????ÿ
what is this "phone in the house" that you are speaking of??ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ Haven't had one of those in about a decade.?ÿ
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?ÿ My daughter saw the phone on my desk at work and laughed, asking if it was real!?ÿ ?ÿ I tried to explain a rotary dial but got a blank stare.?ÿ?ÿ
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I keep a land line here at the house. It's hooked up to an old "Princess" phone (google it) we've had for years. When the power goes out it still works.
One thing I've noticed about cell service in an urban area: The network can get seriously overloaded for hours if a tornado or serious storm hits close. That's one of the reason I keep that line around. It's also handy to have a number to give folks that's NOT your cell phone. I do have a habit of turning off the ringer on the land line. This frustrates my wife but keeps the evenings a lot quieter.
Cheapest phone I own.?ÿ Works great.?ÿ Had the number for 25 years and do not need my own third cell phone.?ÿ My #2 cell phone has the number I have had for 40 years on it.?ÿ Still get work from that number as it was on thousands of recorded surveys.?ÿ The #2 cell is handy for when I am recharging #1 and must be in a non-charging location.?ÿ Someday I might memorize my wife's cell number, but I doubt it.
We are never more than about 20 feet from one of the four land line phones in the house.?ÿ Bedroom, living room, hallway and office.?ÿ Had five until one crapped out and we simply didn't replace it.?ÿ Could add one in the garage easily as that was the original location of the phone when hooked up in 1995.
Why in the garage, you ask.?ÿ Because it was finished and the rest of the house was not.?ÿ Finishing the house didn't happen until 2000.?ÿ We were living about 25 miles away in pre-cell phone days.?ÿ This location was near all of my farming interests at the time so it was a handy place to make connections.
I keep a land line around, for most of the same reasons. I don't have a phone hanging on wall; it rings through my cell phone. I can hook one up if I want, though.
I talk with far more women than men about boundary surveys.?ÿ Been that way forever.?ÿ The hubby/boyfriend may be sitting six feet away but the woman has to be the one to make the call.?ÿ Deanne was calling on behalf of her brother, who is unmarried.?ÿ He has several rental properties and Deanne handles the general business end of things for him.
At times I think back to the days when Mr. Soandso's secretary would call my secretary so my secretary could tell me that my phone was about to ring and it would be Mr. Soandso.?ÿ That was common practice so that Mr. Soandso didn't waste his time getting a busy signal or talking with my secretary to discover I was out.?ÿ Yes, youngun's, it really used to work that way.?ÿ I also dictated letters for my secretary to type instead of doing it all myself.
I just figured you had the line in the garage for the cats..
I still have two landlines and that may change soon to none.
My number has been out there for 30+ years and most business comes in on the landline, so as long as it is paying for itself, I'll keep them.
I have kept the other line for faxes and still I get half dozen of those a year from clients and for some reason, my wife prefers me to send her stuff by fax, go figure.
For the first couple of years of having dial-up internet I had two landlines in this house. If you only had one and were using the computer you effectively had no telephone. So, to be able to be on the computer and be on the telephone at the same time required two lines. When I applied for the second number I asked if I could pick one and was told yes if it wasn't being used. I gave them a number and it was available so I went with it. It was the number of my best buddy back in school days.
I was lucky enough to get my license number for my second landline.
