# People who don't use Facebook?



## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

How do you view a person who doesn't have a Facebook account? A relative of mine recently told me the hiring manager at her company doesn't consider hiring people without a Facebook account, because it somehow suggests the person is socially awkward. I don't have one because I value my privacy, but I never gave any thought into how other people viewed non-users like me until today :confused2:


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## Estel (Feb 2, 2013)

I think it's a perfectly reasonable choice that people may make for multiple reasons. I find it worthwhile to keep a Facebook account. But I think privacy reasons are one good reason to avoid Facebook; Facebook has a pretty bad track record of being responsible with its users privacy. I also know people who avoid Facebook for other reasons that sound perfectly reasonable to me, although I don't think I can reproduce them accurately.

Sometimes I find it a bit annoying when a friend doesn't Facebook, but I still think it's a reasonable choice to make. I find it unsettling that there are employers who find lack of a Facebook account a disqualification for a job.


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

I think they are independent thinkers, non-conformists, and rebels. Very dangerous people. 
Succumb! Zuckerberg et al need your information to sell!


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## blue suede shoes (Mar 22, 2010)

I don't have a facebook account, and I think the people who have them are socially awkward, not the people who don't have them like me. I have had my credit cards compromised more than once (the first time 23 years ago), I have witnessed more horror stories than you can imagine with bank accounts/credit/finances, and I value my privacy. I have friends and acquaintances like people had 100 years ago; I just don't have 16,328 friends that like me, but I have never met. And I find it highly annoying that some publications have made it a requirement to log in with facebook in order to comment on news articles in their online editions. USA Today just instituted that policy a few months ago, so I'm done reading that liberal rag.

By the way, what would make it worthwhile to have a facebook account, other than to get my job application accepted at a company that I wouldn't want to work for anyway?


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## Langham (Nov 7, 2012)

Concocting a completely fictitious persona might be my only reason for having a facebook account, if I happened to be looking for a job, in the knowledge that hiring managers always snoop on facebook. Otherwise, the whole business seems a bit narcissistic.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

From another perspective: Socially awkward can also refer to those socially awkward situations that arise as a result of the notion that most poeple think most people have a fb account, so that the following exchange is awkward not for the questioner but for the person who doesn't have a fb account.

This was a real incident I observed 2 weeks ago in one of our staff rooms:
Q: "Dan I'll pm it to you on facebook, I'll have to add you as a friend first, are you using your normal name there?"
A: "I'm not on facebook"

What ensued, from others in the staff room, was a litany of questions to Dan about why he was not on fb. I could see it was clearly uncomfortable for him.

Facebook for me & many many others is simply just another communications channel, which is quick, free and simple. My contact with my brothers and my cousins in other countries is all through PMs on facebook


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

I do not have a facebook account. I couldn't care less about status updates or likes or whatever other jiggery-pokery nonsense goes on amongst the stunted vanity of the social media subscribers. Trivia, the world is drowning in trivia. Via the world wide web we have the information of all the ages at our fingertips, knowledge that Empires perished to obtain is but a click away, illumination can be obtained instantaneously, but what do people choose to do with this most powerful tool? Upload 10,000 crappy holiday snaps and keep one another abreast of what they had to eat for lunch. I despair......

Twitter makes me sick, as well, whilst were on this subject.


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## nateo (Feb 27, 2013)

I've resisted joining LinkedIn. If you think FB is bad about your privacy, read the EULA from LinkedIn. It makes Zuckerberg look like a saint.


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## gaseousclay (Nov 8, 2009)

Zakk said:


> How do you view a person who doesn't have a Facebook account? A relative of mine recently told me the hiring manager at her company doesn't consider hiring people without a Facebook account, because it somehow suggests the person is socially awkward. I don't have one because I value my privacy, but I never gave any thought into how other people viewed non-users like me until today :confused2:


the hiring manager is full of crap. I don't have a Facebook account because I too value my privacy. I don't see the appeal of FB personally. I don't care about someone else's mundane life, so why would they care about mine? unless you're a business of some sort I find FB pointless


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## Snow Hill Pond (Aug 10, 2011)

Facebook. No. LinkedIn. Yes. Ask Andy Account. Most Definitely.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

The wife and I have never had facebook accounts. Indeed, we seem to reject virtually all of of the social media initiatives, not really caring to be 'all that connected.' LOL, alas, our oldest daughter views this with great disdain and our youngest daughter looks upon us with apparent pity.


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

I don't either. I really can't see the point! I can email, or write to or telephone my friends, or even text them. Why should anybody be interested in my own little running commentary about my life? A bit narcissistic I think. Twitter is just as bad. 
​Oh dear, I'm agreeing with Shaver again......


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## mrkleen (Sep 21, 2007)

Some of you are missing the point. It isnt the personal replies and pictures of people's kids that people are concerned with, it is the social marketplace that exsists beyond those annoying what you had for lunch posts that makes social media vital. There are many things that happen on FB and other similar social media sites, which are vital to staying connected - particularly if you are in the world of marketing, sales, or technology. 

Someone who is selling software or in charge of advertising online circa 2013 - better be very familiar with and well versed in the ways of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. They dont even have to "like" it - but staying up on current trends and advancements is a requirement for many of those vocations.

I often find the most interesting articles about my vocation - posted by friends I respect on Linkedin. And have heard first hand accounts about the uprising in Egypt, the hurricane in New Jersey, and many other important events - long before those stories made it to mainstream media.

So while I think the hiring manager the OP referred to was a bit over the top with his proclamation - I think there is something to it, in the case of certain jobs and industries.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Chouan said:


> Why should anybody be interested in my own little running commentary about my life? A bit narcissistic I think. Twitter is just as bad.


As you said yourself you can't see the point, and that is apparent if you think facebook and twitter are only about updating people about your own life. Mrkleen has covered it quite well in his reply. I never use facebook in the "running commentary" way you suggest.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

mrkleen said:


> Some of you are missing the point. It isnt the personal replies and pictures of people's kids that people are concerned with, it is the social marketplace that exsists beyond those annoying what you had for lunch posts that makes social media vital. There are many things that happen on FB and other similar social media sites, which are vital to staying connected - particularly if you are in the world of marketing, sales, or technology.
> 
> Someone who is selling software or in charge of advertising online circa 2013 - better be very familiar with and well versed in the ways of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. They dont even have to "like" it - but staying up on current trends and advancements is a requirement for many of those vocations.
> 
> ...


Well said sir, an excellent reply for those who don't understand and don't use facebook.


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## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

Chouan said:


> I don't either. I really can't see the point! I can email, or write to or telephone my friends, or even text them.


If by write you mean a handwritten letter, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one using the postal service for good old-fashioned letters. :smile:

In regards to social networking, all the good friends I've had in the past know how to reach me. I don't see the point in making an account unless to keep in touch with past acquaintances, and I don't plan on holding onto every person I meet.


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

What is Facebook? Am I missing something?


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## Regillus (Mar 15, 2011)

Shaver said:


> I do not have a facebook account. I couldn't care less about status updates or likes or whatever other jiggery-pokery nonsense goes on amongst the stunted vanity of the social media subscribers. Trivia, the world is drowning in trivia. Via the world wide web we have the information of all the ages at our fingertips, knowledge that Empires perished to obtain is but a click away, illumination can be obtained instantaneously, but what do people choose to do with this most powerful tool? Upload 10,000 crappy holiday snaps and keep one another abreast of what they had to eat for lunch. I despair......


My thoughts exactly, Shaver.



gaseousclay said:


> ...I don't have a Facebook account because I too value my privacy. I don't see the appeal of FB personally. I don't care about someone else's mundane life, so why would they care about mine? nless you're a business of some sort I find FB pointless




Exactly. I can't understand why people put on a computer that's probably located in another state private information that they wouldn't want the whole world to see and then their Facebook account gets hacked and now their personal and important information is in the hands of some unscrupulous crook. Unless you need to advertise yourself in some way; FB is just narcissism writ large. It's beyond me how some people seem to think that the minute details of their perfectly ordinary lives would be of interest to the world at large. I don't FB for privacy reasons and because I don't see any need for it.


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

mrkleen brings up an important distinction. My presumtion is that this hiring lady, having little to do and being a gossip, wanted to snoop on the personal page of a potential hire, or legitimately verify that they do not have an internet profile filled with racism, drug use, or animal cruelty. The latter is somewhat legitimate.

It's quite another thing if an applicant is asked if they are familiar with social media for business uses, and respond without sounding familiar or eager to learn. This is like someone not being able to use a photocopier. You end up with imbeciles, like the ones I work with, that think they should hire someone to create a facebook or twitter account for a small company. It's a mass market site used by nearly every grandmother around, not complicated stuff.

However a personal life and business life are different. I'll hire a cab driver that walks to work and I don't particularly care if soldiers or police officers have personal firearms at home. Proficiency and/or trainability do not depend on home use.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

mrkleen said:


> Some of you are missing the point. It isnt the personal replies and pictures of people's kids that people are concerned with, it is the social marketplace that exsists beyond those annoying what you had for lunch posts that makes social media vital. There are many things that happen on FB and other similar social media sites, which are vital to staying connected - particularly if you are in the world of marketing, sales, or technology.
> 
> Someone who is selling software or in charge of advertising online circa 2013 - better be very familiar with and well versed in the ways of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. They dont even have to "like" it - but staying up on current trends and advancements is a requirement for many of those vocations.
> 
> ...


Mrkleen: You make an excellent and very valid point and you state it eloquently! It strikes uncomfortably close to home in my case. I have been very blessed in my life to enjoy two arguably successful careers that spanned a bridge of time running from the mid 1960's to 2003. It would be dishonest of me to deny that my continuing Cyber illiteracy wasn't at least one of the factors in deciding to hang it all up. I do not understand, trust, or even seem to have any minimal aptitude for learning the vagaries of this computer dominated world of ours. Frankly, if I had to compete in today's automated workplace, I'm certain I would do far less well than I did in the less complicated, much less automated world that I grew up, lived and worked in! May God bless the children and the grand children.


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## rsgordon (Dec 6, 2012)

Shaver's thoughts are impeccably explained as usual and I agree with them. The intentional disregard of privacy, and attempts to veil their disregard, on both facebook and linkedin would be illegal if I were king.

Unfortunately, I have an active facebook account in order to use spotify.


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

I'm too afraid burned bridges would be rebuilt if I had a real Facebook account. 

Better to leave the ugly past in cinders!!


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

ajo said:


> What is Facebook? Am I missing something?


Have you been living under a rock for the last 10 years?


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## Epaminondas (Oct 19, 2009)

Zakk said:


> How do you view a person who doesn't have a Facebook account? A relative of mine recently told me the hiring manager at her company doesn't consider hiring people without a Facebook account, because it somehow suggests the person is socially awkward. I don't have one because I value my privacy, but I never gave any thought into how other people viewed non-users like me until today :confused2:


I don't have one because I'm not a teenage girl.


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## Epaminondas (Oct 19, 2009)

mrkleen said:


> I often find the most interesting articles about my vocation - posted by friends I respect on Linkedin. ...


 I find Linked In useful - I don't analogoze it to FaceBook. A Vocation????? really???? Are you a priest??? A Human Rights advocate??? My god, I'm a lawyer and I wish I had a "vocation" instead of a mere job - what do you do that constitutes your "calling?" I still say FaceBook is for gossipy teenage girls - not a place for professionals or grown men.


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## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> Have you been living under a rock for the last 10 years?


Has it already been ten years? That was fast..


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Not quite, Feb 2004 it was launched, but I was running a Beta version before that.


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## Joseph Peter (Mar 26, 2012)

Reluctantly, I have Facebook and Linked In accounts. As was mentioned earlier, they are somewhat necessary for professional reasons. But they are a PIA and in all candor, I have them just to be able to say I have them. They lead to an endless torrent of useless notifications about how so and so took their dog for a walk etc. If I have some thing important to say, however, I write a letter or make a call. Personally, I consider FB and LI as nothing more than additional leashes. Between the office phone, the cell phone, emails, regular mail, and the fax plus these two, my question is just how damn accessible do I have to be? But there it is; they are the way of things presently. My work doesnt allow me to voice work related matters of a significant nature through FB and LI (privileged communications) and for that I am glad. But it is quite tedious, given all these means of communication" to have to go down the list checking them if there is anything important. FB, however, has one redeeming use: I have won matters based on what the opposition has said on FB which contradicts their sworn testimony. As John Milton said in the movie Devil's Advocate, "vanity, my favorite sin". Never underestimate a person's need to praise himself or herself.

As the managing partner at my firm, I would never ever disqualify a person from hiring simply because he or she didnt have one of these accounts. Personally, I tend to think I would look favorably on it.


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## VictorRomeo (Sep 11, 2009)

Any service where I'm deemed the product and not the customer, is steered well clear of. That includes Facebook and most all of Google's services. Most people don't realise that they're the product behind a massive advertising, marketing and data-mining engine. An extension of that are loyalty cards and the likes - I have none nor participate in any of those services. Sure, they're made attractive and somewhat useful however the life I lead and choices I make will not - as much as is humanly possible these days - will not end up being part of some engineered marketing scheme.

Oh, and Facebook is no way for any self respecting adult to be managing their relationships. If I want to find out how my friends are getting on, I'll call them or meet them in the pub. Further, given that most Facebook users are prone to having more 'friends' than is realistically possible, it seems to reduce the concept of a 'friend' to that of a mere acquaintance. Or someone met at the bus stop. Why on earth would I want that in my life?! If people are important to me, they'll be in my phonebook. And I might call them from time to time.


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> Not quite, Feb 2004 it was launched, but I was running a Beta version before that.


Wasn't MySpace all the rage then? How embarrassing was that?

What's the difference between facebook and MySpace again?


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## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

Tempest said:


> Wasn't MySpace all the rage then? How embarrassing was that?
> 
> What's the difference between facebook and MySpace again?


All I remember about MySpace is that everybody tried to make their pages "unique" with clashing colors and obscene music that made it an eye sore to navigate.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

Epaminondas said:


> I don't have one because I'm not a teenage girl.


Prove it. :icon_smile:


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

I recently deactivated my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.


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## mrkleen (Sep 21, 2007)

Epaminondas said:


> I find Linked In useful - I don't analogoze it to FaceBook. A Vocation????? really???? Are you a priest??? A Human Rights advocate??? My god, I'm a lawyer and I wish I had a "vocation" instead of a mere job - what do you do that constitutes your "calling?" I still say FaceBook is for gossipy teenage girls - not a place for professionals or grown men.


Truly sorry you dont approve of the word vocation. If I really cared about your opinion I might take a moment to explain what I do, which is completely independant of my choice of synonym. But since I dont...it matters not.

As a lawyer, I am surprised you haven't heard about the *700+ cases* during which social media has been used to successful defend a client. Seems that you're too busy typing repetitious question marks (??????) - to get your head out of the sand and vigorously defend your clients using all means at your disposal.

Here are a couple of links that might be of interest to a bunch of gossipy teenage girls or out of touch counselors:

Social Media Posts Admissible in Court:

Social Media and the Courts:

https://www.cadivorce.com/news/social-media-evidence/


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

I'm in my 20's and do not have a facebook account. Most of my peers think it is really strange. I signed up way back when, when you needed a .edu email address to get an account. Mid way through my freshman year of college, I deactivated it and never looked back. Most of what is on there is mindless drivel anyway. I have a twitter that I find useful for keeping up with friends and getting news and I have a LinkedIn account as well, which I rarely ever use. I don't have anything against facebook users or think any differently of a person who uses or doesn't use facebook, but it isn't something I enjoyed.


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## nateo (Feb 27, 2013)

Tilton said:


> Most of what is on there is mindless drivel anyway. I have a twitter that I find useful for keeping up with friends . . .


Too much mindless drivel on Facebook, so you use Twitter instead? That's like saying "Novels are too trashy, so I read tabloids."


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## rsgordon (Dec 6, 2012)

nateo said:


> Too much mindless drivel on Facebook, so you use Twitter instead? That's like saying "Novels are too trashy, so I read tabloids."


I think this is insulting to novels. I would maybe say something like "upgrading to a used hyundai"


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## nateo (Feb 27, 2013)

rsgordon said:


> I think this is insulting to novels.


Have you leafed through any of the mega sellers, like the Da Vinci Code? The vast majority of novels are insulting to novels.


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## rsgordon (Dec 6, 2012)

nateo said:


> Have you leafed through any of the mega sellers, like the Da Vinci Code? The vast majority of novels are insulting to novels.


I couldn't agree more. I find that the system of advertising "bestsellers" works well to my favor. If the appeal is such that the average person likes it and buys it, then I can be relatively certain I don't need to bother with it.


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

nateo said:


> Too much mindless drivel on Facebook, so you use Twitter instead? That's like saying "Novels are too trashy, so I read tabloids."


Two things:

1. Twitter is limited to 140 characters, which leaves much less room for cringe-inducing rantings, arguments, and general foolishness. It is efficient by design.

2. That depends on who you follow. I probably get 75% of my news from twitter. Facebook culture is such that people get offended if you deny their friendship request. Twitter, on the other hand, is a two-part deal. Someone can follow you without you having to ever see their tweets appear in your feed. I only follow about 1/3 of my followers (not that I have some sizable following, but still...), and to my knowledge, no one whines to their friends about un-following on twitter like they do de-friending on facebook. In the mid-20's crowd, de-friending is a considerable insult - just last week, Mrs. Tilton said to me "such and such de-friended me! Can you believe that! We used to be such good friends!" (I will note here that my question regarding the last time the two had seen or spoken to one another went unanswered). Some how, un-following does not carry the same weight - perhaps because you cannot request for someone to follow you.

Do I think Twitter is awesome and am I a huge Twitter advocate? No, not at all. Do I personally find it to be less obnoxious and more useful than Facebook? Yes. Lesser of two evils to me, but your mileage may vary.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Tilton said:


> 2. That depends on who you follow. .


Same is true for Facebook. YOU choose who you want to be friends with and YOU choose what you want to read. No difference.


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## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

I admit to never hearing the word "defriend" before, so a quick trip to dictionary.com revealed to me that it's a real word. I'm astonished.


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

This thread has confirmed that people swift enough to avoid the social media disease are my type of people. Good, honest, intelligent people.


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> Same is true for Facebook. YOU choose who you want to be friends with and YOU choose what you want to read. No difference.


See my comment about folks getting offended when you deny their friend request. Once you're friends on facebook, are you not effectively "following" one another? Twitter does't work that way. Also, yes, you choose what you want to read, but I'd rather not have to sift through the every moronic thought of every person I know (or am actually friends with).


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## cdavant (Aug 28, 2005)

I had a facebook acct. I dropped it like a hot rock. I am a small town doctor and I want to be my patient's doctor, not their friend. It's easy enough to just say "I'm not on facebook." Call my home or office 24/7 and if I'm not available you'll be directed to someone who can help you. I came home from a 2 week trip, mostly on ship, no email to find half-a-dozen messages along the lines of "Fred's having chest pain," "Fred's having those chest pains again today," on an answering machine that clearly says "If this is a medical problem, call ***-****." I prefer to hide.


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## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

cdavant said:


> I had a facebook acct. I dropped it like a hot rock. I am a small town doctor and I want to be my patient's doctor, not their friend. It's easy enough to just say "I'm not on facebook." Call my home or office 24/7 and if I'm not available you'll be directed to someone who can help you. I came home from a 2 week trip, mostly on ship, no email to find half-a-dozen messages along the lines of "Fred's having chest pain," "Fred's having those chest pains again today," on an answering machine that clearly says "If this is a medical problem, call ***-****." I prefer to hide.


Reminds me of a show I've seen where a doctor always lies about his occupation because people always seek his advice on their medical issues. I think hiding sounds like the best answer :smile:


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