'Call-call na lang'

I want to work in a call center. Or, well, I used to. When I was still in high school, I was almost always bored and broke. I thought that if I worked at a call center, I could kill some time, get an American accent, and make money all at the same time. To me, it was a job made in heaven; I just had to sit in front of a computer all day (or night I should say — I was in high school) in an air-conditioned room and talk and talk for hours on the phone. It didn’t seem like a job to me. I mean, I did it all the time at home!

During my tween and early teen years, practically all the calls made to my family’s house were for me. Whenever the telephone rang, I would always rush to answer it (but of course, being the slowpoke that I am, I hardly ever got to pick up first). It came to a point when my classmates and friends could distinguish the voices of everyone in my house, and vice-versa.

On school nights, I would sleep at midnight or even in the wee hours of the morning because I was chatting with someone I spent the entire day with, prompting my father to ask, “Hindi pa ba kayo nagsawa sa isa’t isa?” (“Haven’t you had enough of each other?”) How could we tire of one another when we needed to analyze everything that we did during the day?

When there were no classes, I could spend the whole day yammering on the phone. I didn’t tire of it. I loved everything about phone conversations — from the cool distortion of people’s voices, to hearing people laugh like they were just next to me, to the fact that I didn’t have to dress decently for the person I was talking to.

The phone was my lifeline to my friends when we were apart. Like Nokia says, phones are meant for connecting people. Therefore, so I could be connected to others, I was literally connected to my phone. From the moment I discovered the usefulness and convenience of calling people, I fell in love with it. That’s just the landline.

And then, just when my hormones started kicking in, the cell phone entered the scene. The poor ole’ landline was cast aside and the main medium of communication became the mobile phone.

With the rise in popularity of cell phones came the beginning of the texting phenomenon. Suddenly, the home phone was no longer ringing every few minutes. Days would fly by without any calls made to or from the house. I stopped rushing to answer any calls because I knew they wouldn’t be for me and that they would most likely be call center agents reminding my dad to pay his bills.

The noises that filled the house instead were the beeping sounds of incoming text messages — in various message tones! One after the other, they would arrive and my fingers grew calloused with the constant pressing of cell phone keys.

Instead of saying, “I’ll call you later. I have something to tell you,” my friends would just say, “Text-text na lang!” It annoyed me so much (still does) when people say that! Not only did it sound completely moronic, but it was an indication that I would be forever stuck with reading “Gud morning!” instead of hearing it because nobody wanted to dial a number anymore.

I didn’t want to text. Texting took long, labored pressing of buttons as opposed to the seven presses it took to dial a landline number (or a single fast-dial memory button). Besides, I missed hearing the sound of people’s voices and laughter on the phone. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much of a choice. Most of my friends were interested only in texting.

Calling them myself on the landline was an option, but chances were, they would be texting while chatting with me and wouldn’t be paying much attention to our conversation. I could also have called them on the cellphone, but that’s like throwing precious money away, especially when the unlimited texting services became popular.   So, “goodbye” to the days of guffawing into the phone at three in the morning, and “hello” to squinting at the tiny letters on the cell phone screen.

I envied my father’s stories about his childhood and the days when he played Romeo to many, many Juliets. He could tell where a girl lived just by knowing her telephone number. Area codes spoke volumes, he said. Calling someone to “woo” her was Dating 101 back then. Now, though it is highly suggested, phone calls are not necessary. Heck, I know someone who agreed to be someone’s girlfriend after exchanging just a few text messages! They’ve never seen each other in person and lived on opposite ends of Metro Manila. Romantic, isn’t it?

Based on the experiences of my friends and my own forays into the world of crushes and boys, text message relationships never work out. Sure, he’s more articulate when he texts. Hello, that sappy message you just received was a quote from The Notebook, and he probably sent it to all the girls he digs on his group message list. Or maybe you don’t want him to hear your voice because you’re shy. Get over it — you don’t know if it’s your crush you’re busy sending messages to or his nosy little brother (hey, it’s happened to me!).

Texting is so tedious, especially for an impatient person like me. I like snappy answers to my statements and questions.   I don’t want to wait hours for my lazy crush to reply to my 150-word-long text with, “K. Haha.” Boys must be prodded to keep up a conversation, and that is a difficult task on SMS.

A smile may creep up my face if I receive a text message saying, “I’m thinking of you,” (okay, sobrang cheesy!) but I would definitely break into a huge grin if I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth instead. Hey, what can I say? Cheesiness is better heard than read. Plus, with phone calls, hearing your special someone’s voice is enough to “give you the tingles in a silly place,” as Colbie Caillat sings. I mean, imagine your significant other’s voice telling you how much he loves you over the phone. It’s as good as him whispering it into your ear!

Not only is the impact greater when words are spoken, not typed, but the effort to speak up and the apparent desire to hear my voice makes conversations special. I had one of these moments when I was in Baguio with my family a few years ago. My crush called me on my cell phone just to ask how I was. I swear I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. For the next five minutes or so, my family was practically forgotten, and for the rest of the trip, I was high up on Cloud Nine.

Would it have been different if he had just texted me? Of course. Who knows how many people he could have been asking about. At least with a phone call, I know he was all mine, at least for five very expensive call minutes (for a high school student, that is).

Maybe I’m just a noisy person who loves to talk, but I would love it if people started using phones for the purpose that Alexander Graham Bell designed them for: phone calls.

 It’s a good thing that cell phone companies are coming up with ways to make calling from your mobile phone more affordable. One of the best programs being offered today is the latest from Smart, Smartalk, the ultimate unlimited calling offer. With just P100, you enjoy five days of unlimited calls. P500 gets you 30 days unlimited talk time. And you can easily buy Smartalk load from retail outlets nationwide. Or you can register and get Smartalk with your airtime load. To do this, simply text Talk 100 or Talk 500 to 6400. With nationwidest coverage and access to the biggest subscriber base, this unlimited calls offer is simply unbeatable.

So, after introducing a new fad which almost brought the art of phone conversations to an end, it’s great that telecom companies are now making ways and means to bring back late-night laughter and 3 a.m. sweet nothings.

Maybe now, people will start hearing each other’s voices first before deciding to go out with each other. Maybe they’ll also stop texting “gudmorning” and “text-text na lang.” Then again, that may be asking for too much. Well, a girl can dream. But for now, I’m happy to be able to afford to call my best friend to tell her how badly my last text-message relationship ended.