The new record is 3!

That's the number of consecutive times someone has called and hung up before I could answer.

You see, my phone doesn't play a "ring" to those who call me, it play's Eric Clapton's "Layla". My family and friends are used to this by now, but strangers are always caught off guard. I've found that most people just hang up and call back. Sometimes they will even hang up after that second call.

It just surprises me to no end that some of them won't stay on the phone the 4 seconds it sometimes takes for me to answer the call. Let's run through the mental dialogue that must go on: "Layla?!? This is not the normal ring that I hear when I call others! Surely there is witchcraft at work here. I must hang up NOW before I am cast into the infernal abyss!!!!" I can assure you all that there is no telecom hellfire portal to worry about. And if there was, Nortel would surely charge too much for it to become a functional part of any major providers client damnation budget.

Every now and then I'll get a new caller who hangs on the line long enough for me to answer. I've noticed that these people are a bit more kick-back than the uptights that hang up right away. I know right away that these people are cool.