Does your life stop when you are put on hold?

Does my life stop? Sometimes. I don’t want to be so immersed in a task that I can’t be brought back by the (hopefully) inevitable “Hello?” in time to talk to that person before they hang up.

Some things that I do when I’m on hold:

1. Possibly curse myself for not having prepared some small task for the being-on-hold time
2. Make a list of the things I want to say
3. Cut my nails
4. Play 2048 repeatedly
5. Start a stream-of-consciousness Google search that starts with whatever song they’re playing as hold music, and ends with something ridiculously distant from that point.

I use a mobile phone and put it on speaker. Then I can wash dishes, write letters, file my nals, water plants, chop vegetables for salad, do some yoga stretches, browse through catalogs, tickle Milo or daydream. I never mind.

@gailcalled I know myself too well. Within 60 seconds, I will have forgotten I was even on hold if I get up and walk away from the phone! I also fear not being able to get them off speaker phone (perils of having a poor-quality device).

@dappled_leaves: I use my phone on low-volume speaker most of the time, since it leaves my hands free (and I am at home, alone, unless you count Milo.) I do not, however, wander into an other room. And I would never try this with my el cheapo cell phone with almost no signal in my house.

Does my life stop? Of course not anything so dramatic.

That’s why there is a “speaker” function on mobile phones and handsets.

And if nothing else, I can always play Sudoku :)

Huh

Not if I’m on cell phone. Speaker phone is awesome.

Nope, my home phone is right by my computer. I pretty much keep doing what I was doing before I called.