Phone Calls. I Hate Them.

So volunteering for Obama today was no piece of cake, seeing as they made me work the phone banks. I'm used to working the Vassar phone-a-thon for the Annual Fund, where we ask the alumni for money once a year. In that case, I don't care what you do once you pick up the phone, as long as you're civil about it. Give money or don't-- whatever.

But calling people in support of a political campaign is very different, and much more frustrating. Look, I'm not trying to get you to change your views at all; I just need to know if you've decided who you're voting for, because either way, then we can leave you alone. If you haven't decided, I just need to know what issues are important to you, so we can get an idea of what undecided voters are thinking about. I'm not going to make any attempt to change your mind or to get you to give me money. Stop acting like I'm barging in on you, because I'm not. I'm asking you a simple, civil question, and I will not take more than twenty seconds of your precious time, if you just friggin' cooperate with me.

Of the four people who actually answered their phones, one was voting for "whoever the Democrat is," and then proceeded to ask, "Wait, there's only one, right?" One person was undecided, but when I asked her what kinds of issues were important to her, she said, "Oh, I don't know. There are so many," and gave a flaky sort of laugh. And then the other two people refused to tell me, which pissed me off, because as I previously mentioned, I'm not trying to get you to do anything. If you tell me you support John McCain, that's fine. You're an idiot, but that's fine. Go out and vote and make your voice heard. But if you do tell me that you're voting for John McCain, then that allows me to put you on a list of people not to call, so that the Obama campaign will never bother you again. If you get snippy and tell me that your vote is "private," well, fine, but that means you're not definitively in either camp, so we won't be putting you out of our sights just yet.

The funniest part is, one of the women who was so snippy to me lives right down the block from my parents' house. I pass her house everyday when I go running. In fact, I have a pretty good idea of what she looks like. And it's going to be mighty tempting to say, "Thanks for being so nice to me on the phone," the next time I run past.