Apparently a lot. Apparently everyone needed to reach me urgently. They tried calling, and paging, and e-mailing. Hell they even tried faxing me. They tried me at home, on the cell. They sent mail through my web site. Where was I? They tried for 3 days! What if it was important?
It wasn't. They were just used to being able to get me, and when they didn't, they panicked. It's my fault. I'm too available.
You can call me at home, on my office line, and on my cell. You can page me. You can send me e-mail at 4 addresses, plus through my website. You can fax me. Hell, you can even send me a letter, although nobody ever does anymore. Unless you count bills as letters.
"A letter? What's that?"
"It's like a mini personalized book sent over land or sea from one person to another."
"Book?"
You can send letters to my house, my office PO Box or c.o. pretty much any comedy club. That's 13 ways to get me, before I even count getting messages through my friends and family. No wonder we're all stressed out.
There once was a time when if you wanted to get someone, you called. Leave a message and whenever they got it, they got it. Hell, some people didn't even have machines. In fact there was a time when not everyone had a phone.
We wonder why we get no peace,, it’s because we're too available. The whole world is just a mouse click or speed dial away. We know they got the message, we have e-mail delivery confirmation. Could they be ignoring you?
In my case, the answer's yes. If there's one thing this panic has taught me is that I need to start training people to understand that occasionally it may take more than 11 minutes for me to return a call. If it means that I'll have to ignore a couple of pages or messages, oh well.
So turn off the cell phones. Don't check you e-mail for a day or two. What's the worst that could happen? A little panic?
Let them panic. It'll give them something to do until I call them back.
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