I quit/was fired from my last 9-5 partly because I hated talking on the phone.
Cholma
Strangely, I don’t really remember having an aversion to talking on the phone until AFTER I spent a couple years working a Help Desk. Now? I *despise* talking on the phone!
I hoped that volunteering at a crisis line, spending time helping people by talking on the phone, would help with my aversion. I got better at answering phone calls, but making them? Still yikes.
Inahc
I have to make, like, three of them on monday that I was going to do this week. and I seem to have accidentally a depression again. >.< waaaah.
Hey, I have accidentally a depression again too! Solidarity high-five!
Inahc
*jedi hugs*
Masumi
Hey, I accidentally had a depression last week! *Offers more jedi hugs* Still a few phone calls waiting to be made…
Masumi
My cryptonite: Taking a phone call on a landline without caller ID. When I call at least I can plan what to say. Some unknown stranger calling and I gotta figure out what they want? Hell no. Somehow my office phone got conveniently lost. (Man I’m lucky to work in a place where I can away with that XD)
Eyebrow
For me it’s talking on the phone in Italian. I’m okay but not fluent, and taking away the body-language cues makes it just too hard.
Norah
I hate answering the phone at work when there’s an overflow or the people who normally answer are out. The new phones we got recently are hard to work, and I’ve dropped calls before. The owners of the company often want calls handled differently, and I’m always terrified I’ll screw up a message to them and get fired for something that isn’t even my main job )even though realistically that’d probably not happen.)
Deanatay
My job is to make and take calls, and I’m getting pretty good at it.
You know the saying “Don’t take it home”? Well, I DON’T. Good luck getting me to call someone socially – I don’t do that kinky pervert stuff.
Schol-R-LEA
Depression, cynicism, and a dislike of phone calls are the normal results of working helldesk for more than, oh, a day or two.
I hear it fades in time, proportionally to how long you worked at it. I hope they are right, but given that I spent years on helldesk, I doubt it will.
Schol-R-LEA
Oh, I forgot the paranoia. But that usually doesn’t set in until around week three.
Needfuldoer
Oddly enough I had the opposite experience. Having to do phone support helped me overcome that trepidation. Granted most of said calls were with people in the same company, but there are plenty of vendor calls too. Dealing with the general public still sucks no matter how you cut it, and they’re usually pretty furious by the time they get to me…
I only survived making calls because I had a list and was done when the list was done, though so help me if anyone answered, because I didn’t get any information about what the call was about (DISASTER).
If I had to make and take calls at random all day? Hey, here’s my two weeks’ notice!
Am I the only one that hates texting rather than calling someone? Texting is so impersonal and it can forever for someone to reply, making what should be a 1 minute phone call into several hours of waiting. Plus Texting just feel so . . .impersonal? Not quite sure what the right word I want to use there is.
Exactly! It’s impersonal! I don’t have to think about the human I’m interacting with on the other end as much. It’s much less anxiety-inducing. Also, you can reword and rewrite a text several times until you have the right phrasing. Hard to do that in a live conversation. And with my propensity for saying exactly the wrong thing, that is a life-saver.
They both have their uses. Calls can help “settle this, now” and also allow for longer deeper conversations with friends, where you’re actually paying attention to each other. (Not necessarily all the attention, especially when driving, which I disapprove of but they do anyway, but lots of attention.) Texting can help keep contact spread over a busy day, or allow more thought, much like a version of e-mail with short messages and crappy editors. Or let you keep in contact quietly, without disturbing people on the train or in a meeting or while eating at a restaurant.
What I find annoying is the way texting can veer between “almost like call” in a realtime cascade and “like email with hours between messages” without warning. If there’s been a hot exchange then I often try to give an indication of “I’m going to stop paying attention to you now”.
And of course these days most of my calls are scheduled or at least pre-cleared via text, rather than simply calling out of the blue.
Phone calls freak me out because I can hear the persons voice but not see their face. Since I’m likely autistic, I think it’s because I find it hard to know when to talk and in person I get more information from the person’s face etc. In text you always know when it’s your turn. Also you can’t really interrupt anyone by text so it’s much easier for me at least 🙂
Texting is just so inefficient compared to a call, at least for me. I don’t have much texting experience. At 59 and with no friends or relatives who text, I’m not likely to get any better at it. My only experience is at work, but as a touch-typist I’m much better at it with a full-sized screen and keyboard than fumble-fingering a phone. I’m also a stickler for spelling, and I can’t efficiently glance back and forth between suggested words and the keyboard.
There’s also an attitude component. Why text when you can talk? It’s faster and you can hear the tone of voice. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like making phone calls either but I dislike texting even more.
My immediate relatives have a tendency to make any phone call last at least 45 minutes if not an hour. I’m using an old-style flip phone where I have to press each number button multiple times to make a letter but I’d still rather do text.
I think the reasons you describe are why so many of us prefer texting over talking, actually. Many introverts do not want that sort of personal exposure – they prefer distant and impersonal, it feels safer.
yup. and the stress of being put on the spot like that means I’m more likely to forget something I wanted to say. and there’s no record of the conversation unless I try to write and talk at the same time (which adds even more stress and tends to make me sound like a hal-bot). I tend to repeat appointment details out loud now until I can find a pen and paper or something.
I’d prefer Amber to not cheat for Walky, especially since he said he wanted to face the consequences to be fair to Sal, but I’ll support just about any bad behavior right now if it will get their ship to sail.
Amber is not the type of girl to do something so dishonest!
*happily watches Amber fake academic records and break into a building to steal the hard copies*
I wonder if we’ll see amber and amazigirl have an argument. Like, i imagine its like the other personality watches from within and waits their turn. Or maybe it’s a really mindful disassociation.
What’s amazi-girls event horizon of shit amber could do that’ll get her to come out of turn.
It depends. Right now it seems to me like they are not co-hosting or co-conscious and they aren’t sharing memories any more, so it is unlikely for Amazi-Girl to know this is happening right now.
Interesting. And here I was thinking that this may be a healthy development for Amber. She (kinda, sorta) took credit for Amazi-Girl’s heroics (“this body”) and now she doing Amazi-Girl type stuff while she is clearly Amber. I thought it was a sign of integration.
Sam
Integration would, to my understanding, require accepting Amazi-Girl’s thoughts as her own. Amber was always capable of doing this stuff before and claiming credit for things an alter does is not the same as accepting they are part of you. Since Amber and Amazi-Girl are not communicating well right now, it would be highly unlikely for Amazi-Girl to be integrating right now or to accept integration right now.
BBCC
…Sort of. That’s not quite it, to my understanding. There’s two models of integration for one.
The ‘fusion’ model as I call it (all alters in one) requires basically a lot of talking out issues between alters and respect for each one and what they’d bring to the whole before they act as one. It’s also, on average, the model easier to split up again.
And the ‘committee’ model, which doesn’t entail all the alters ‘becoming’ one. It does require they be communicating, sharing memories and more or less working towards a common goal (even if they have different feelings about and ideas regarding how best to go about it and why they want it).
Neither of these involve denying an alter’s existence and considering their actions and thoughts ones own. That’s actually likely going to make it worse.
Regalli
Unlikely. Remember that a day ago in-strip time we saw AG talk through the suit while Amber was antagonizing her, after AG started taking control while Amber was sleeping which Amber doesn’t remember. Both of these are very, very bad signs they’re dissociating from each other further.
Also, based off the endlessly patient and thorough commentary of people in the comments with DID, ‘integration’ in terms of ‘now there’s only one person in your head now and you’re Cured Forever!’ isn’t really a feasible or good long-term solution in this sort of situation. It’d more likely lead to more blackouts because, near as I understand it, anything that changes your neural pathways so much you split is pretty much permanent, so forcing an alter to go away would just make them ultimately force their way out.
It’s been made clear that Amber doesn’t remember what Amazi-Girl’s doing any more. It’s likely, but not entirely clear that it works the other way too, since we haven’t actually seen Amazi-Girl since before the stabbing.
Sam
This is true, it is possible that when Amazi-Girl is conscious again that she WILL know what Amber has been doing and just doesn’t at this very moment in time. There are a lot of aspects of DID that can be variable.
Tried to think of a good pun to follow that one with, but the only one that comes to mind is terrible and stupid. Guess I’m just gonna have to phone it in
I read this comment first and thought, “Oooh, is there drama happening?”
Then I read up a couple comments, and I realized there was no drama, only puns.
153 thoughts on “Scooch”
Ana Chronistic
[/Mission Impossible theme]
Ana Chronistic
(wow, Amber has the same Kryptonite I do!)
cbwroses
I quit/was fired from my last 9-5 partly because I hated talking on the phone.
Cholma
Strangely, I don’t really remember having an aversion to talking on the phone until AFTER I spent a couple years working a Help Desk. Now? I *despise* talking on the phone!
Yumi
I hoped that volunteering at a crisis line, spending time helping people by talking on the phone, would help with my aversion. I got better at answering phone calls, but making them? Still yikes.
Inahc
I have to make, like, three of them on monday that I was going to do this week. and I seem to have accidentally a depression again. >.< waaaah.
Yumi
Hey, I have accidentally a depression again too! Solidarity high-five!
Inahc
*jedi hugs*
Masumi
Hey, I accidentally had a depression last week! *Offers more jedi hugs* Still a few phone calls waiting to be made…
Masumi
My cryptonite: Taking a phone call on a landline without caller ID. When I call at least I can plan what to say. Some unknown stranger calling and I gotta figure out what they want? Hell no. Somehow my office phone got conveniently lost. (Man I’m lucky to work in a place where I can away with that XD)
Eyebrow
For me it’s talking on the phone in Italian. I’m okay but not fluent, and taking away the body-language cues makes it just too hard.
Norah
I hate answering the phone at work when there’s an overflow or the people who normally answer are out. The new phones we got recently are hard to work, and I’ve dropped calls before. The owners of the company often want calls handled differently, and I’m always terrified I’ll screw up a message to them and get fired for something that isn’t even my main job )even though realistically that’d probably not happen.)
Deanatay
My job is to make and take calls, and I’m getting pretty good at it.
You know the saying “Don’t take it home”? Well, I DON’T. Good luck getting me to call someone socially – I don’t do that kinky pervert stuff.
Schol-R-LEA
Depression, cynicism, and a dislike of phone calls are the normal results of working helldesk for more than, oh, a day or two.
I hear it fades in time, proportionally to how long you worked at it. I hope they are right, but given that I spent years on helldesk, I doubt it will.
Schol-R-LEA
Oh, I forgot the paranoia. But that usually doesn’t set in until around week three.
Needfuldoer
Oddly enough I had the opposite experience. Having to do phone support helped me overcome that trepidation. Granted most of said calls were with people in the same company, but there are plenty of vendor calls too. Dealing with the general public still sucks no matter how you cut it, and they’re usually pretty furious by the time they get to me…
Ana Chronistic
I only survived making calls because I had a list and was done when the list was done, though so help me if anyone answered, because I didn’t get any information about what the call was about (DISASTER).
If I had to make and take calls at random all day? Hey, here’s my two weeks’ notice!
AnvilPro
Amber’s a sneak
Darkoneko
And hopefully not a lot of people will look at the building.
Lokitsu
They’re all instagramming the raccoon climbing the next building over.
King Daniel
No Amber
Yumi
Amber: makes bad decisions, can’t make phone calls
I feel so seen.
Doctor_Who
This is why Batman has a Bat-Signal instead of just giving the Commissioner a secret phone number. The conversations were too awkward.
Leorale
He’d only say “I’m Batman” and he’d disconnect whenever Commissioner Gordon looked away.
Rob Carlson
Advice for college students: if your help puts your friend at high risk of expulsion, find another way to help.
Regalli
Especially when they specifically indicate they do not want this help. And particularly not without telling them so they know to watch their ass.
Deanatay
Check the title.
Inahc
I guess Amber had to make up for walky’s excessive smartness in the last comic 😉
Passchendaele
oh god, calling anyone on the phone? *nervous sweat*
keep climbing that building, Amber
Nono
I mean, the only phone calls we’ve seen in the comic are…
…Blaine calling Amber.
…Becky calling Joyce as she’s being chased by a gunman.
…Carol calling Joyce to say that she supported Toedad.
Oof.
Yumi
Well, we’ve also seen less terrifying calls between Becky and Joyce.
KaitouKidisBae
And wasn’t there one where Mike answered Joyce’s phone with “All hail satan” to both mess with her mom and to help her avoid lying about Becky.
thejeff
And where Walky masterfully handled the panicked return call after that.
Deanatay
Clearly Walky’s into that kinky pervert ‘social’ stuff.
thejeff
Not really, but he can step up when he needs to. It’s one of the things I like best about Walky’s character.
Tacos
*sigh* Goddammit Amber.
Inahc
exactly. >.<
BBCC
Oh, Amber.
William Leonard Reese Jr.
Am I the only one that hates texting rather than calling someone? Texting is so impersonal and it can forever for someone to reply, making what should be a 1 minute phone call into several hours of waiting. Plus Texting just feel so . . .impersonal? Not quite sure what the right word I want to use there is.
cbwroses
Distant? Inconsequential? Like the person was an afterthought?
svata
Exactly! It’s impersonal! I don’t have to think about the human I’m interacting with on the other end as much. It’s much less anxiety-inducing. Also, you can reword and rewrite a text several times until you have the right phrasing. Hard to do that in a live conversation. And with my propensity for saying exactly the wrong thing, that is a life-saver.
drs
They both have their uses. Calls can help “settle this, now” and also allow for longer deeper conversations with friends, where you’re actually paying attention to each other. (Not necessarily all the attention, especially when driving, which I disapprove of but they do anyway, but lots of attention.) Texting can help keep contact spread over a busy day, or allow more thought, much like a version of e-mail with short messages and crappy editors. Or let you keep in contact quietly, without disturbing people on the train or in a meeting or while eating at a restaurant.
What I find annoying is the way texting can veer between “almost like call” in a realtime cascade and “like email with hours between messages” without warning. If there’s been a hot exchange then I often try to give an indication of “I’m going to stop paying attention to you now”.
And of course these days most of my calls are scheduled or at least pre-cleared via text, rather than simply calling out of the blue.
monkyvirus
Phone calls freak me out because I can hear the persons voice but not see their face. Since I’m likely autistic, I think it’s because I find it hard to know when to talk and in person I get more information from the person’s face etc. In text you always know when it’s your turn. Also you can’t really interrupt anyone by text so it’s much easier for me at least 🙂
ProfessorDetective
Naw, you ain’t the only one. I have trouble expressing my emotions through text alone.
Charlie Spencer
Texting is just so inefficient compared to a call, at least for me. I don’t have much texting experience. At 59 and with no friends or relatives who text, I’m not likely to get any better at it. My only experience is at work, but as a touch-typist I’m much better at it with a full-sized screen and keyboard than fumble-fingering a phone. I’m also a stickler for spelling, and I can’t efficiently glance back and forth between suggested words and the keyboard.
There’s also an attitude component. Why text when you can talk? It’s faster and you can hear the tone of voice. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like making phone calls either but I dislike texting even more.
Egg
My immediate relatives have a tendency to make any phone call last at least 45 minutes if not an hour. I’m using an old-style flip phone where I have to press each number button multiple times to make a letter but I’d still rather do text.
Deanatay
I think the reasons you describe are why so many of us prefer texting over talking, actually. Many introverts do not want that sort of personal exposure – they prefer distant and impersonal, it feels safer.
Inahc
yup. and the stress of being put on the spot like that means I’m more likely to forget something I wanted to say. and there’s no record of the conversation unless I try to write and talk at the same time (which adds even more stress and tends to make me sound like a hal-bot). I tend to repeat appointment details out loud now until I can find a pen and paper or something.
cbwroses
I’d prefer Amber to not cheat for Walky, especially since he said he wanted to face the consequences to be fair to Sal, but I’ll support just about any bad behavior right now if it will get their ship to sail.
King Daniel
Tired, and with the shipping bit at the end I read that first part as saying you’d prefer Amber to not cheat on Walky.
cbwroses
Amber is not the type of girl to do something so dishonest!
*happily watches Amber fake academic records and break into a building to steal the hard copies*
ARTSCHOOLRAGE
I wonder if we’ll see amber and amazigirl have an argument. Like, i imagine its like the other personality watches from within and waits their turn. Or maybe it’s a really mindful disassociation.
What’s amazi-girls event horizon of shit amber could do that’ll get her to come out of turn.
Sam
It depends. Right now it seems to me like they are not co-hosting or co-conscious and they aren’t sharing memories any more, so it is unlikely for Amazi-Girl to know this is happening right now.
Steve C
Interesting. And here I was thinking that this may be a healthy development for Amber. She (kinda, sorta) took credit for Amazi-Girl’s heroics (“this body”) and now she doing Amazi-Girl type stuff while she is clearly Amber. I thought it was a sign of integration.
Sam
Integration would, to my understanding, require accepting Amazi-Girl’s thoughts as her own. Amber was always capable of doing this stuff before and claiming credit for things an alter does is not the same as accepting they are part of you. Since Amber and Amazi-Girl are not communicating well right now, it would be highly unlikely for Amazi-Girl to be integrating right now or to accept integration right now.
BBCC
…Sort of. That’s not quite it, to my understanding. There’s two models of integration for one.
The ‘fusion’ model as I call it (all alters in one) requires basically a lot of talking out issues between alters and respect for each one and what they’d bring to the whole before they act as one. It’s also, on average, the model easier to split up again.
And the ‘committee’ model, which doesn’t entail all the alters ‘becoming’ one. It does require they be communicating, sharing memories and more or less working towards a common goal (even if they have different feelings about and ideas regarding how best to go about it and why they want it).
Neither of these involve denying an alter’s existence and considering their actions and thoughts ones own. That’s actually likely going to make it worse.
Regalli
Unlikely. Remember that a day ago in-strip time we saw AG talk through the suit while Amber was antagonizing her, after AG started taking control while Amber was sleeping which Amber doesn’t remember. Both of these are very, very bad signs they’re dissociating from each other further.
Also, based off the endlessly patient and thorough commentary of people in the comments with DID, ‘integration’ in terms of ‘now there’s only one person in your head now and you’re Cured Forever!’ isn’t really a feasible or good long-term solution in this sort of situation. It’d more likely lead to more blackouts because, near as I understand it, anything that changes your neural pathways so much you split is pretty much permanent, so forcing an alter to go away would just make them ultimately force their way out.
thejeff
It’s been made clear that Amber doesn’t remember what Amazi-Girl’s doing any more. It’s likely, but not entirely clear that it works the other way too, since we haven’t actually seen Amazi-Girl since before the stabbing.
Sam
This is true, it is possible that when Amazi-Girl is conscious again that she WILL know what Amber has been doing and just doesn’t at this very moment in time. There are a lot of aspects of DID that can be variable.
DailyBrad
Amber does things the hard way a lot, doesn’t she?
jeffepp
It’s a trait of those with anxiety, I’ve observed. Particularly those with OCD, or approaching it.
Lilyliv
…It has never occurred to me, but you’re totally right.
miis
WELP that explains most of my life
Cattleprod
Ah, good, so laser grids are still a possibility.
Reltzik
….
I feel called out on that phone thing right now…
King Daniel
That joke was a ringer.
Jackson
Tried to think of a good pun to follow that one with, but the only one that comes to mind is terrible and stupid. Guess I’m just gonna have to phone it in
jeffepp
You need to dial it back a bit.
cbwroses
Why? Was there a problem with his tone?
Yumi
I read this comment first and thought, “Oooh, is there drama happening?”
Then I read up a couple comments, and I realized there was no drama, only puns.
Proxiehunter
And the puns are off the hook.
King Daniel
Must be a kniPhone glitch.