My friend doesn't like to send text messages, so instead of texting, she'll call me. She is superglued to her phone. I am not, and she has mentioned a couple of times how 'impossible' it is to get hold of me.
On Saturday I had organised a get-together in town for about 30 people. It was the first time I'd been OUT out since before my pregnancy. It was at a pub on a well-known London street and I had included a link to Google maps, an address etc.
The party was in full swing by the time she arrived, looking annoyed. She had been trying to call me for directions for about an hour. I had been having a fantastic time catching up with my old friends and my phone was in my bag, hooked over a chair. We do have mutual friends who were also there so eventually she called one of them.
Later she told me I was really thoughtless for not answering, and brought up my sorry history of never answering my phone and said I was 'hopeless'.
I told her that see my phone as a necessary evil (used mostly for work) but I'm not an automaton who is programmed to jump every time the thing rings. If I don't answer it's because I'm busy, I have my hands full (baby/washing/showering/cooking/whatever), I am with someone else and don't want to be rude or I just don't want to answer it (this is rare, I don't get THAT many calls!). However, I do check it regularly so there is no reason why she can't leave a message and I can call her back later. She did not accept any of these reasons and implied that I was treating our friendship very casually by effectively ignoring her.
I called her up yesterday to try and smooth things over but she wouldn't answer (the irony!). She is a lovely person, really reasonable and a great friend, this is the only thing we have ever really disagreed on. Which makes me wonder ... am I being unreasonable, should I make more of an effort?
Sorry this pointless problem has taken up so much of your time to read...