On Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:15:52 -0500, Gary > wrote:

>Brooklyn1 wrote:
>
>> There are many other ways to prevent being bothered by
>> calls at inconvenient times so you can alibi till you're blue in the
>> face but if you are screening (if you actually check to see who's
>> calling then you're not so busy) then you are scared of bill
>> collectors[period]
>
>Again....LOL! Sorry but no bill collectors looking for me.
>
>You indicate that you are a landlord or at least manage rentals. I suppose
>you deal with tenants who haven't paid rent on time and won't answer their
>phones. We're not all deadbeats though. I'm just not a phone person.

Most tenants pay their rent. The few that didn't I immediatly started
eviction proceedings, no point prolonging the inevitable. With most
they were long time tenants, they'd mail me a year of post dated
checks, made us both happy, I didn't have to track them down and they
didn't have me coming around to see how they lived. They knew that
I'd not cash their checks before time and they knew to contact me to
hold a check a few days if they were short (rarely occured).

I don't have a cell phone. I'm outdoors all day in good weather. All
I need do to see who called me is to check my caller ID. My answering
machine is pretty worthless as more than half the time people won't
leave a message... I rarely leave a message, only if it's of
importance, I never leave a message if all I was doing is wanting to
chat, in fact if I call and no one picks up by the sixth ring I simply
hang up... and I know some people who have their answering machine set
to pick up after like 28 rings, I think they're mental. With people
who are important to me I mostly rely on email to make plans, then
there are no misunderstandings about when/where. I've been driving
for more than fifty years, I've never once felt I needed to chat on
the phone with someone while driving. I remember how my father never
used the phone, if it rang he'd wait for my mother to pick it up
otherwise he'd ignore it, I never remember him dialing... he lived for
86 years never using a telephone, but he loved driving, if he wanted
to talk to someone he'd simply drive over and knock on their door,
many times he'd visit me unannounced, and if I wasn't home he'd wait
for me until I'd find him sitting outside smoking his pipe under a
tree. I think I could live without a phone. Too many people die on
the roads every day from yakking/texting/tweeting. I happen to have a
fifty pound cast iron farm bell at my rear deck, if I need my
neighbor's attention I don't phone them, I ring my bell.
I've been told people can hear this bell from five miles away:
http://i42.tinypic.com/20ge3co.jpg