Considering the fact that I have three different jobs that keep me “on the clock” twenty-four hours a day, an active social life – and a laundry list of friends and acquaintances – its no surprise that my phone rings a lot more then normal – I just didn’t realize how much more.

On average, I get around twenty to thirty phone calls a day. Granted, I appreciate that so many people think of me and want to talk to me – but there are times when I want to throw my phone out the window because I am in the middle of an important meeting, writing a column – or spending time with a friend – and I have to stop and answer the phone time and time again.

Everyone always tells me to let the machine get it – but I can’t do that for a number of reasons. First and most importantly, I am on call 24/7 for the Buildings Department, so when the phone rings, I have to answer it. Second, I am not the type of person who can stare at a ringing phone and not answer it. If someone takes the time to call me, I feel that not answering their call is rude, so whenever the phone rings – I pick it up.

If a ringing phone isn’t bad enough, getting a beep in the middle of a call is worse. I think the best – and worst accessory for the telephone is call waiting. Granted, never getting a busy signal is a good thing – but if I had a nickel for the amount of times I was in the middle of an important conversation and I had to stop and answer the other line – I could buy Verizon. Worse then that is the fact that I don’t like keeping people on hold, so now I have to hurry up and talk to one person so I can get back to another.

Besides the phone calls I get, if you add my beeper and e-mails to the amount of people that contact me on a daily basis, now you’re getting into the hundreds.

The truth is that while I may get annoyed sometimes because I get interrupted by a phone call, page or e-mail – I love the fact that so many people want to talk to me. I just wish this happened to me when I was in high school.