Yemen doesn’t have voicemail. It just doesn’t exist. As an adaptation to that, the Yemenis have developed “the callback”. In order to make a call or send a text you must first purchase units, or minutes. There truly isn’t a better system, there are no cell phone “plans”- you prepay minutes with one of the three phone companies in the area. In fact many people have multiple phones, one for each phone company, because calls between companies take so many units per call that it is cheaper to have a phone number for each company and use it only for calls within the same network(like Verizon to Verizon, Cingular to Cingular). You use units when you make a call or send a message, not when you are the recipient. If someone is low on units they will start giving you “missed calls” which essentially means that you should call them back.
I am shall we say, disinclined to talk on the phone. I am notorious for shamelessly screening phone calls (no! I don’t ever screen your calls!) and I like to wait for at least 10 voicemails to build up before I condescend to check it. Also I absolutely loathe pointless voicemails. My Father is by far the worst offender in all mankind, “hey pumpkin….it’s your ‘ol poppa….just calling you(really? So that’s what you were doing)…okay….bye!” I firmly believe that if it is truly important, you will call back. But here without voicemail I am forced to answer AND to return calls lest I offend someone. “Hey Taryn I left you callbacks! What happened?” “Bah…I screened your call and then went to the beach?” No? that’s rude? I have already far surpassed all plausible excuses and now I am a slave to my phone. When they leave you callbacks, you call back. End of story. I find it vexing.
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I agree... I would find the inability to let calls go to VM an invasion of my privacy
ReplyDeleteSomething to think about.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone ie poppa maybe,or really anyone for that matter, calls, in what appears to be a pointless call, if you "listen" between the lines, or just think about it for a bit, what they are really saying is "Hey, hello, just thinking about you and wanted you to know that." AND what is left unsaid, if you "listen"between the lines, is "Are you thinking about me too?" So if you take it as a compliment and stop viewing it as an annoyance, it takes on a whole different aspect. Many of the calls are just because they miss you.
Properly admonished publicly...I now eschew ALL voice mail posts and, consequently, the melodious sound of my voice will NO LONGER BE ENJOYED on your d-word VM.
ReplyDeleteWell...at least not as much...I hope...
Love you, Miss you Cutie!!!
I experienced the same in Spain...it was so strange this callback thing. Spaniards call it a toque, if I remember correctly. I am with you on call screening though. It happens, even to our best of friends. Phone talking requires a mood which doesn't strike me often.
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