I once specifically asked to contact me via email to sort out some details. So they emailed me “Hi, this is my phone number, please call me to talk about the details”. Argh!
@repungnant_canary @warpslide At that point you should just be blunt and tell them you’re not good with phone calls.
My voicemail says to hang up and send a text message instead of leaving a voicemail, and I still get so many voicemails :(
I’ve gotten much better with practice, but I used to make scripts for phone calls. I would panic and forget my own damn name, phone number, why I was calling, freak out and hang up.
I used to over rehearse where if anyone would go off script it would immediately become word soup. Now I just have bullet points and feel comfortable with long pauses to collect my thoughts.
I have taped my phone number to my monitor so that if I have to leave an unexpected voicemail, I can read it. Every. Time.
It used to take me most of the day to script and get up the courage to make a phone call, and if I unexpectedly got voicemail, I’d have to hang up, script a voicemail and call back to leave it. I’ve at least done it enough and listened to how others do it enough that I can do it now. But I still email way more, only call when I have to, and now worry about whether it will be the right time of day or.in the right point of their workflow for me to call. 🤦♀️
Coming from /all, I’m in this picture, and you should expect a text or email about it, once I am up for it.
This comic gave me such big anxiety 😅
No one’s ever quite understood how terrifying phones are to this one v.v “Just pick up the phone” “I want to keep my lunch, though.” “It’s not that bad! Everyone hates phonecalls! Just call them and tell them [whatever]!” “No, I will literally be ill if I press that button.” sigh
Edit: Kinda weird this got downvoted at all… guessing it’s the bit of Khajiit-speak there but who knows. Somehow Riikka has gotten no downvotes on anything but the saddest thing she possibly could have, and can’t get any comments or responses from anycritter in general. Bleh, Reddit all over again. Should probably go join Beehaw so at least the unexplained downvotes problem will be solved.
I have this issue all the time. Sadly, for some reason it’s mostly when accessing medical care… You’d think that places that “understand” autistic people would offer a solution other than phone calls.
Man, to me phone calls are very draining. I usually do not get mentally blocked if I answer one or if I must call someone, but it gives me a huge anxiety to just think of it.
Exactly! It is so difficult to initiate a conversation. In person or on a phone. Anything where I have to think on the go. Text or email? So must easier.
