I rarely duck calls, but I like knowing who it is

Lately, there has been an important and meaningful development in my career: I now have caller ID. Until recently, I never knew what to expect when the phone rang. At any moment, the person on the other end could have been either a friend inviting me to lunch or a colleague calling about some report I had not yet finished.

Now, my work life has changed. Instead, each phone call is like a little brainteaser. Whenever an extension number pops up , I find myself frantically trying to remember whose extension it is before I pick up . Actually, it's more like a game show: `` I can name that caller in three rings."

I suspect that, if you're like me, you've memorized the phone numbers of all the people you don't want to talk to. You may still be a little hazy on the phone number of your best friend, but you know by heart the number of the person who asked you to e-mail her the receipts for your expense report yesterday. ``Oh, I don't think I want to take this" has become a popular refrain in offices across the country.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating not calling people back. That would be rude, not to mention a little unprofessional. I'm not advocating you always screen your calls, either. I'm just saying there are occasionally times when you might not want to hear from someone until you've had your first cup of coffee. And even if you're not avoiding someone, it's nice to be able to prepare yourself for an important phone call.

Of course, if the person on the other end is doing the same thing, then you might never get to talk. If we all screen our calls, the entire infrastructure of the nation would come to a grinding halt, as we all get sucked into an enormous game of phone tag.

For the most part, I do answer all my calls when they come in, and I'm not just saying that because my colleagues could be reading. I mainly like caller ID because I enjoy having that split second of mental preparation when I can anticipate what a phone call will likely be about. At the very least, I can reach for the files that I know I'll need.

Caller ID comes in especially handy when I'm on the other line. Generally, I have a first-call, first-serve policy at work. I hate putting a person on hold to answer my other line, though with caller ID I can now tell when that's absolutely necessary. Obviously, the service also helps when the phone rings five minutes before I'm supposed to leave. As we all know, there are some extensions that will take much longer than five minutes to answer.

Then again, this can all be taken too far. For some reason, I still bristle whenever people answer my calls made from my home phone with a, ``Hi, Joe." I understand that they have recognized my number, but it still catches me off guard. There's a certain rhythm to a phone call that it just seems unnatural to disturb. The other person may know it's me, but I still want the chance to introduce myself. I guess I'm a little old-fashioned that way.

Having said all this, I know it is especially unfair that when at the office, my calls show up as a ``private number." I never asked for it, but my phone is somehow equipped with caller ID blocking. Granted, I didn't exactly ask for it to be taken away either. With so much call screening going on in the workplace, I enjoy the ability to be invisible when I call people.

Or at least I used to enjoy being invisible until one co-worker told me that he just assumed my ``private number" calls were from telemarketers. Maybe that's why people don't seem to answer my calls anymore. They think I'm about to sell them something. With all my talk of call screening, I suppose it's fitting then that some people might start avoiding my calls.

It could always be worse. Those people who think I'm a telemarketer could be answering my calls instead. It's one thing when your calls are not being answered. It's quite another when those calls are being answered by people convinced they are about to confront a telemarketer. Talk about having an unreceptive audience.