Did something this evening that I have not done in ages. I called a neighbour and asked her if she would like to come with me to see a workmate's Halloween haunted house. Workmate puts a lot of effort into this and I felt he would be disappointed if I did not show up.
I have developed a phone phobia in the past few years. It works like this; If I have to call anyone on the phone, I have a big fear of them rejecting me. This fear makes it hard for me to ask for help for even the most normal things, like calling a repair person for a service call; calling to buy hay for horse; calling just to chat, and yes, even calling a neighbour to see if they are interested in going out for an hour for a little entertainment.
Not real sure how it started. I work in a incoming call centre for business that accept credit cards and interact card. My company does the processing of the transactions and deposit the proceeds into the business person's bank account. The home-phone phobia likely comes from being on the phone 7.5 hours 5 days a week. Not all customers are easy to deal with. I think I am like the carpenter that builds all day for customers, yet has the sagging deck and rotting back steps. They swing a hammer all day and really does not want to do it at home as well.
Calling neighbour was hard. Her enthusiastic yes was a great relief. We had fun and I know my enjoyment of the haunted house was increased because I was doing it with some. Yep, we screamed and laughed at ourselves.
Calling people to arrange pleasant events and to get work done is one of my treatment goals.
