R.S.V.P.'s and Caller ID

I sent invitations for a surprise party I’m having for my husband on Saturday. Have you ever noticed that people do not respond when there is an R.S.V.P. on an invitation. Most people ignore it, I don't think they do it intentionally, they probably think they will call, but never get around to it, etc. Anyhow, that’s one reason that I didn’t put an RSVP on my invitation, mostly because I was afraid people would think on Saturday afternoon, “Oh my, I didn’t RSVP, so I’d better not go”, or if they said no, due to another commitment and that changed, then they would feel they couldn’t go because they had said no initially. Those are the reasons I didn't add it.

On my lunch hours the past two days, I have been trying to call people on the list to get an idea of how many I might have coming, so I can better plan the food. I guess I will just plan for the amount I invited, less the percent that might not come because I have only been able to reach two homes! I’ve called people that should be home during the day, I knew the ones employed wouldn’t be home. It’s been hard to call anyone, because Bob is home every evening, when I could be calling. I stopped at my friends’ house on the way home, thinking I’d make some calls from her house, and she wasn’t home! Years ago, he would have never paid any attention to who I was talking with on the phone, but the last few years, it's not like that. He always asks me who I'm calling, or who I'm talking to. I don't want to do anything that will give away the surprise.

I think the problem is that is that I was calling from my work phone and so many people today have “Caller ID”, they see the call is coming from ACS, so they don’t answer! I personally don’t like caller ID, I don’t exactly know why, maybe I like being surprised when I answer the telephone. We paid for caller ID once, and after a month or two, I got rid of it, I just didn’t like looking at it before answering the phone! Besides, we put our phone number on the “No call List” and that list must work, because we don’t get too many unwanted calls.

If we would have had caller ID there was a call tonight I wouldn’t have answered…it was some sort of survey. I don’t mind doing phone surveys, but if they get long, I get impatient but this caller said it was a 45 second survey, so I decided to go with it. The first question was “Are you registered to vote in Minnesota?” Of course, my answer was yes, that was easy. But, the second question, I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to answer, it was “Do you have a favorable opinion of President Bush”? I guess I’d really like to keep my opinion of our President to myself. Because this was a “black and white” question, they were looking for a yes or no answer. I am not a person who is “black and white” when it comes to politics. I don’t think that was a fair question for someone to ask, because there is more to think about when it comes to our leaders than “do you have a favorable opinion”. So, I hesitated for awhile, wondered if I should answer, then hung up the phone without answering. I feel bad, because hanging up on someone is not something I like to do, but I didn’t really want to answer that question either!