I hate unlisted phone numbers. Be it mobile, home or office phone numbers. What is their problem to have unlisted numbers? One thing I'm sure of, the reason I will need an unlisted number is to make prank calls, which I don't.

I hate to receive unlisted number calls. Everytime I see WITHHELD on my mobile phone screen, I will shiver. Not in cold but in fear. Fear that the caller could be the bank, insurance company, some organisations asking for donations or even make easy money scam personnel. Whatever.

But I cannot not answer those WITHHELD calls because my parents and my parents-in-law have it, too. So it's really like a fear-love relationship.

My mom for instance. She would call me at the time when it's inconvenient for me to answer. When I checked my phone later, it is WITHHELD. I can't know who called, right? She would try me again but, again, it's inconvenient for me to answer. Hey, I could be in the toilet or scalling the fish or washing the poo off my boy's butt ok? And then when she finally get hold of me, she would nag and nag and nag.

"Kalau apa-apa terjadi pada mak babah macam mana? Asik tak jawab talipon ajer!"
"Kalaulah mak mati, agaknya dah reput badan baru dia tahu!"
"Asik tak jawab talipon ajer? Hutang tailong ke apa ni?"
"Kalau mak mati, dah kebumikan baru nak melawat!"
On and on.

My parents-in-law is different story.

"Where have you been?"
"What were you doing?"
"Are the kids alright?"
"I thought something happened to you that's why no answer"

So it's quite frustrating really. If I can know the caller, I would've called the caller back right? So it's a two-way thing. You frustrated, I frustrated. You happy, I happy. If they listed their numbers, I can definitely screen my calls. I don't have to live in fear.

At least Linda is now smart enough to key in certain codes so that when she calls me, I can see her smiling face on my phone screen. She got an earful from me once, you see. Heh.