Dang! Kinda sorry I can’t read this one.
Ah, well.
That said, It’s pretty much the same here. Although I will voice call more often than I will text some folks during business hours. When it comes to my cellphone, I just don’t answer any voice calls at all unless it’s from someone in my caller list. If someone persists in attempting to call that line and will not text to give me caller data, on the third try they get blocked.
Regarding the house line, we use an answering machine to screen calls. Same deal there. If someone refuses to leave a message / identify themselves, they get auto-added to the block list. I try to make the OGM entertaining because the message is upwards of 30 seconds long (this discourages most automated demon dialers).
In the last few years I’ve also gotten cranky enough that if I’m in the middle of something important, or even in the middle of a meal, I won’t pick up. I will return the call soon afterwards, but not mid-meal. I know that wrinkles some noses, but the bottom line is, that phone line is there for *our* purposes and convenience. Although often mistaken for one, it is *not* a goose-stepping mandatory electronic social leash.
That’s likely a knee-jerk reaction to too many years of mandatory on-call / on-pager / on-radio connectivity I suppose. But perhaps that’s just a handy excuse. At heart I’m basically a taciturn, crotchety, cantankerous, peevish old buzzard who scowls at children at Christmas, and randomly snorts at unsuspecting pedestrians.