I really hate answering the phone. I never call anyone, and nobody ever calls me. If anyone rings me in a professional capacity, it’s via cellphone.

So I ignored the phone when it went tonight, and BF came in the room looking for it as he’d last left it somewhere among the bedcovers. He answered it, then turned straight to me and handed it over.

It was…..a market researcher wanting to do a survey about Vector, our power company, based on the fact that I’d called them the other month about our lack of hot water.

I always try to participate in surveys if I have the time, because I’ve been on that side of the phone. I know how hard it is to get people to give up their time, and what it’s like to try and shortcut through the superfluous questions so as not to piss off the rare person who actually assents to taking part. The questions can get so anal and so repetitive, they’re almost pointless. And how we try to frame our spiel as to focus on the fact that we’re calling on So and So company’s behalf, “which you’ve had recent dealings with”, rather than a third party middleman.

It really sent me back in time as she read out each question, most of which were along the lines of “rate this on a scale of 1-7”, and I could almost see her clicking through the various screens on her computer as I used to do.

She had a really good telephone voice too – super clear, not too fast, good enunciation, and smooth and flowing rather than grating. I wonder how I ever lasted so long in that call centre?