A couple years ago, if my cell phone rang, I would pull it out of my pocket with urgency/concern and immediately answer, “Hello?!”

Back in those days, aside from my wife and parents, I simply didn’t receive a lot of phone calls. Most of the communication on my cell transpired via text message. If a call came through with an unknown number, semi-panic would hit as I assumed it must be the kids’ school calling or some other emergency-type situation.

These days, my phone seems to ring off the hook. Unfortunately—and annoyingly—it isn’t because I am a popular person or I have won a large cash prize. Instead, spammers and salespeople are blowing up my phone.

Getting a phone call from a solicitor is the worst.

Ever since buying a house and later re-financing it, I receive calls seemingly non-stop from mortgage folks and real estate gurus wanting me to “make a big move.” My phone is also going off constantly thanks to my profession. Marketing salespeople have my personal number and don’t hesitate to call it at all hours of the day. Then of course I also receive a heavy dose of hang-ups and spam/prank calls.

These people use all the tactics. They call 2-3 times in succession. They call from a 509 (Spokane) or 843 (Myrtle Beach) area code. They call from numbers that closely mirror my loved ones.

Thanks to my phone’s feature of mostly identifying bothersome calls as spam and my own common sense, I have trained myself not to pick up when appropriate. However, one of the unfortunate consequences of being much more selective is that sometimes I ignore legitimate calls. And that sucks.

I am not really asking for help because I know the advice I will receive: tell the person on the other end to remove my number from their call list (just like my parents would tell telemarketers 25 years ago when they called our landline during dinner). So I guess I am just airing my frustrations and wishing I didn’t hear my ringtone as much as I do.

Have you ever turned a bothersome call into something great or missed a really important call because you thought it was garbage? Let me know! Don’t Blink.