There are some people you’d like to avoid. And thanks to Caller ID you can. But are you abusing the technology? And are you one of those people who others try to avoid?

I sit in a lot of offices and just about everyone I visit jumps up when their phone rings and looks at the LCD of their phone to see whose number is flashing before they pick up the receiver.

Nearly everyone also says they do it for a good cause--to make sure they don’t miss an important call. In other words, whereas the phone used to be a way to communicate with someone, today, thanks to Caller ID, a new business practice has developed in which many people don’t take calls unless it’s something they don’t want to miss or it’s relevant at the moment.

My unscientific poll seems to support this. When I asked a group of workers with Caller ID how often they looked at the identification, everyone said, “Always.” Why?

“So critical calls don’t get missed in the frenetic hub-bub of my day,” explains a project manager in Cincinnati. Besides he says, “Sometimes I don’t have time to get stuck chatting.”

“The primary reason is efficiency,” says a CFO. “While it may be a losing battle, I attempt to minimize the disruptions to my work flow and accepting those calls which are relevant to my priorities seems to help me manage.”

And then there are those callers you want to avoid. “There are a couple people that when I see their name flash up, I think, ‘now what?” says one woman.

“Another person will often call for something and if I let them leave the request on voicemail, by the time I get back in an hour or so, they figured it out themselves.”

“One individual is particularly exhausting,” says a vice president. “She’s passive aggressive, has a negative energy and is possibly hyperactive. She exhausts me. If she calls I rarely pick up because I know I’ve committed to a 30-minute conversation after which I’ll feel worse and have accomplished little.”

Other workers say they use the technology to be better prepared. “If it’s someone I want to talk to, I may not answer it immediately so I have a second to prepare for the conversation,” says an advertising copywriter.

If he had the technology at his office, one New York worker said it would come in handy during his busiest times to capture messages from all but known-urgent calls and his wife that would otherwise be dealt with abruptly.

But if it’s a boss or senior manager, several people said they answer even if they’d rather not. “He’ll just walk over and interrupt me anyway,” says one woman.

Most people say they use Caller ID when under deadline, don’t want to be distracted or don’t have time to get into an involved conversation. Only one person said they check the identification so they can call the person by name.

People also know when you use voice mail to avoid them. One manager says, “Occasionally people call me after hours to leave a voice-mail on an uncomfortable topic that I suspect they wished to avoid a direct discussion on.”

A Virginia-based worker doesn’t have Caller ID and doesn’t want it. “It’s not a good idea to make judgments about what calls to answer or not—unless you’re really trying to avoid someone,” she says. “If you’re in business, your phone is your connection to the world—answer it!”

Efficiency or avoidance? That’s the question to ask next time you glance over at your Caller ID. If it’s the latter, you’re probably putting off a conversation you need to have sooner or later.

© by Andrea Kay