I just got off of back-to-back phone calls and am feeling drained and relieved and, as always, a little self-scoldy because making a phone call is rarely quite as bad as I think it will be. Honestly, even if a phone call IS as bad as I imagined (issue remains unresolved, I have to talk to someone unpleasant, I feel like I have no idea what I’m talking about), it is usually over fairly quickly. Much more quickly than justifies the days/weeks/months of procrastinating, resisting, and fretting before I make the phone call.
One of the calls was for a dermatology appointment – I have a mole that’s being constantly irritated by non-negotiable clothing, and I would like to have it removed. Plus, I would like to get a skin check. The scheduler seemed to think I could just go for a skin check, and have the dermatologist look at the mole then; I suppose that makes sense, to have him check it out first before he commits to scraping it from my body or whatever mole-removal procedure he uses. I had been delaying this call because I have only been to a dermatologist once before, and I could NOT for the LIFE of me remember her name. So I blurted that out right at the beginning, and the scheduler was very lovely and said she could look it up, and it turned out that my previous dermatologist was no longer with this health system so I will be going to a new one entirely.
To continue telling you overly personal and yet somehow deeply boring things about me, I figured that as long as I was on the phone ALREADY, I would try to do something that I have wanted to do since January: find a new gynecologist. I had SUCH a bad experience this past time – more than an hour’s wait, with no updates from the staff, in an increasingly crowded waiting room during a pandemic – that I was ready to leave. But I had made no progress toward finding someone new. This is the sort of thing that works best with a referral, but all of my friends see doctors in a different health system, not covered by health insurance. So! I simply asked the scheduler if she could get me in with a new gynecologist. Since I don’t need an appointment until next January, I figured I had a good chance of finding someone. And lo! the scheduler DID find me a new gynecologist and I got an appointment and PHEW. Cross two items off my list.
The second phone call was with a company that provides entertainment for children’s parties. Specifically, they bring dinosaurs to your event and play dinosaur-themed versions of Red Light Green Light etc, and bring out fossils and talk about dinosaur facts. The dinosaurs are adult-human sized and seem to be half robot, half puppet. Carla is obsessed with dinosaurs, so I think she would love it… but I am a leeetle bit concerned that it will be too babyish for her. Like… maybe it would be ideal for the 3- to 5-year-old set. The woman I spoke to said that eight is on the upper range of the ages they serve – any older, and the kids get a little scoff-y. That was… only slightly reassuring. I mean, maybe CARLA would love it – I really think she would – but maybe her six-months-older friends would find it babyish and lame. And I think having your friends think your party is babyish and lame would be absolutely crushing at this age. Anyway, I am still mulling it. NOTE: If you would like to watch some brief Instagram videos of this company in action and weigh in on the babyishness factor, please email me and I will send you the link.
Just as bad as the concern over how babyish it might be is the fact that the party would need to take place in my backyard. Please believe me when I say that having a party in my backyard fills me with utter dread. I am pre-stressed by even the IDEA of it. I want to go somewhere that is in the business of kids’ parties, where all I need to do is show up with a cake and some decorations, and they do everything else. And then at the end I can leave. I promise you that I will be stressed enough just doing that.
(Last week, I did call just such a place! I had a couple of questions that didn’t have answers on their website – in fact, one question was about an add-on that was mentioned on the website, with no further details than price – so I wanted to speak to a human. I waited on hold for a long time just to leave a message. And then got an email last Friday that listed the exact same details that were on the website, and no more. I responded via email immediately, with no response; and emailed again today, only to get an out-of-office reply.)
Sadly, this is going to be a phone-call heavy week. Not only do I have a school meeting via Zoom that I have been fretting about, but I also need to call U-Haul to ask about getting a trailer hitch installed on my car. THAT is the type of phone call I hate the most, because I have no idea what I’m talking about. They will ask questions and I will have no answers.
I also need to schedule a dentist appointment; I think I need another crown. No need to speculate on why I am dragging my feet on that one.
You know how I mentioned above that I felt a little reproachful of myself for wasting so much energy agonizing over the phone calls when really they weren’t that bad? Yeah, well, that feeling didn’t linger.
I have said it before and I will say it again: the best thing ever was when my kids got old enough to plan their own parties and all I had to do was provide food. Before that, though, the best was going to this trampoline park. All I did was pay and bring cake, essentially. Now, it was SLIGHTLY unnerving to have all these preteen boys in a trampoline park basically going wild, but still. Also, one of the parties they planned themselves was like six hours, and they ended up all heading to a park where they found abandoned shopping carts and had shopping cart races with one kid pushing and one kid in the cart and omg, this is information I wish I never had. Hmmm, just realized this is not a soothing comment. Or maybe it is! It feels unlikely that girls would be this stupid. So hopefully you’ll never have to deal with it.
Oh my GOODNESS that sounds… very freewheeling and fun for the kids, and NICE AND QUIET for you. 🙂
I frequently have to make phone calls for my job and that’s fine. It’s my job and I do it without too much angst. But. I was supposed to call the vet on Friday. And then yesterday. I did actually call them today, only to be told they’d have to call me back. It’s too much, vet office. Just answer my question now. *sigh* Why are we like this about phone calls?
I don’t know. I cannot imagine what it would be like to just… make a call, without agony. Some people must have that skill, right?
You have my FULL-FLEDGED SYMPATHY
I CAN make a call…but I will put it off for as long as I possibly can. BUT, I am going to use you as inspiration to make a few of those calls…maybe. Good for you for getting them done!
I despise phone calls. Such a huge pain and it never gets any better.
I’m a Brit living in the USA. As part of my immigration I had to be up to date on tetanus shots. I am highly allergic to them. The first time I had one I became very ill soon after (but didn’t make the association). The second time I had one, it put me in hospital, and I was told never to have one again as it may be even worse the next time. I really really hate making phone calls. I had to get my medical records from the UK, to be exempt from having a tetanus shot here. The only way to get them (email or letter not acceptable) was to phone my doctors surgery back ‘home’. I seriously considered just getting another tetanus shot……rather than make that call……
Looking for a new doctor is stressful. Glad you got help with that. Waiting that long is SO frustrating. I’m still beside myself about a doc who was a SOLID hour late for a zoom Coach and I were doing with Lad. I had to leave 15 min in and that caused issues. Then the doc had the nerve to scold me when I called to follow up. MAYBE NEXT TIME DON’T LEAVE AFTER A FEW MINUTES. And I did NOT correct him because he refers patients/has a working relationship with Coach.
I wish I had advice on the birthday party. It does sound cool. Maybe if you did something that you were sure would be a crowd pleaser at the end, then the party would have an overall great feeling. A dino shaped pinata? Or some kind of dinosaur scavenger hunt. Hide facts about dinosaurs or some dinosaur related objects and whoever finds this specific dinosaur egg like object wins?
I kind of miss planning birthday parties. It was a strength of mine, especially if there was a theme. But I hate the phone. I’ve been putting off calling the electrician for a light that goes on and off randomly in our bedroom for ages. AND feeling guilty about it because Beth works in there.
Oh, I do not envy you, friend! I hate phone calls like these. Especially calling for doctor’s appointments because I always feel this weird internal pressure to accept whatever appointment time they give me so I’m not “difficult” (how very enneagram 9 of me!)
Sometimes I have to make it one of my monthly goals because I know then I will have to report back, haha.
BTW, right after I left that comment I called the electrician.Beth was very happy.
Thank you for inspiring me to stop putting off the call to schedule my physical. The call took…. Less than 5 minutes? And now I get to start a list of the random things I want to make sure to ask about when I’m there….
I am not sure if you’ve made the birthday party decision, but in regular times the ice cream chain here (the good one) does parties and you can bring in entertainment and food. I don’t know when they will restart, but since the state is reopened, maybe add that phone call to your list? We’ve delayed parties in the past – my kids’ birthdays often have holiday conflicts – so maybe Carla would be amenable to waiting for that. Face painting is big too, if the dinosaurs don’t work out.
That is a VERY good suggestion, and I love that ice cream chain. We have finally made a decision – nature center outdoor party it is!