As you know, talking on the phone is the least favorite part of my job, and I avoid it whenever I can. The Boss is always telling me what a wonderful phone presence I have, probably in an attempt to get me to answer more often when it rings. It’s not going to work, though. I’ll answer if I know who’s calling, and if it’s someone I want to talk to. Otherwise I’d be on the phone with telemarketers and credit card account representatives (and other people after my money) all day long, every day.

Today, though, I had several congenial conversations with the Boss. A week away seems to have agreed with him, and he was even willing to take the blame when I chastised him (mildly, of course) for not checking in for messages. I tried to let him off the hook by suggesting I should have used his cell phone, but he told me that he’d forgotten to take his charger with him to Texas, so it wouldn’t have done any good. Obviously, they have no cell phone chargers in Texas.

So all the decisions I’ve made have now been cosigned by him, even the things he would have done differently if he’d been here. I did get him to agree to call in more often the next time he goes on vacation, but that’s a promise as easily broken as made. Besides, he’s always forgetting things like that (which, in fact, works to my advantage more often than not).

I had a somewhat less friendly chat with Tim this morning. I don’t know what was stuck in his wisdom tooth, but he did the next thing to hanging up on me. He called to ask if I’d received the time cards he faxed earlier, and as soon as I told him I had, he said “goodbye,” quite curtly, even while I was in the middle of asking him something about them. Then he said, “I just wanted to make sure you got them. Goodbye,” and rang off. Well, at least he said “goodbye,” but after this, I might stop taking his calls along with the telemarketers’. It felt kind of rude, to me.