Brooklyn1 wrote:
>
> People who screen their calls have a disease; paranoia. Telephone
> paranoia stems from hiding from bill collectors... there is no other
> logical reason.

Not always true. I usually screen my land-line calls and I have no bill
collectors to hide from. Occasionally, I will just answer the phone and
it's almost always some solicitor or a wrong number or some friend that
always wants to talk for an hour or so (and will be offended if I don't have
time to talk). Or it's a customer calling after business hours. I'm usually
doing something during waking hours and can't be bothered to stop what I'm
doing to answer the phone every 30 minutes or whatever. Anyone who knows me
knows to leave a message and I'll call you back...or send me an email.

Only important contacts are on my cell phone list. If you aren't on the
list, leave a voicemail or forget about contacting me. Again...many of
those calls are bill collectors with the wrong number. If it's someone on my
selective list I will call them back immediately if my phone was on at the
time.

Funny answering-machine message that I heard on a stand-up comedy show once:
"Hi this is Gary. I'm home now and in a moment I will hear your voice and
I'll have a decision to make."