My great gran hated the phone. She would hesitate to pick it up. Never held it to her ear, would scream at it so the other person could hear her and of course had trouble hearing them so would hang up on them.

Me I use to work both as telephonist dealing with hundreds of calls a day and as a receptionist in high fying commerical offices. After a full day, I couldn't answer my home phone or even speak on a phone outside of work.

Now with caller ID I answer the calls if I know who it is. Otherwise I let the machine pick up. Just get too anxious and frustrated by idiots.