entering conversations and phones ...argh!

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OK... I have always done this... when I call someone on the phone..I have a really hard time with the "hello this is " part. Now if I call people I know or who know me I skip the formalities altogether and start right off with what I have to say...sometimes to their chagrin in the middle of a sentence or where I left off before. I guess the hellos I think are silly if the person knows who is calling them or knows your voice?!?
I also have great difficulty sustaining conversations on the phone... I usually cut them off and try to hurry it up so I can get off the phone...

It is frustrating to me and I am quite sure to them (Although no one has said anything)

Yeah, I always sound awkward on the phone too. I tend to always start talking at the same time the other person starts talking, and a lot of times I have to think about what I'm going to say ahead of time. So usually if I have something to say, I'll just talk about it in person.

Whenever I call someone I avoid this "This is ... speaking" and the same when I answer the phone. I just say "Hello, is ... there?" and then if they want to know who is talking they can ask me and I will tell them. It's too hard trying to go "I am ... and I wish to speak to ..." I would make a horrible receptionist person Especially because if I have to say a huge thing like "so and so's business, this is so and so speaking, can I help you?" I mumble and say it fast and it would come out as something very indecipherable and the person on the other end would be like "what on earth" or hang up
I also hate it how people's parents feel the need to have a discussion about absolutely useless things before they give you to who you're trying to call... It really puts me off phone calls, I usually message someone on my phone and tell them to call me so I avoid all of the nonsense that occurs before I can tell them what I originally intended to say.

I say: "Hello, It's me!"

My Father used to do that to people and I hated it... I was like just give me the phone. He can be very annoying when he does that.!<--I am grown up now and he does that on the phone still... agrh!

I do something similar than my dad. I always call him on his cell phone, because if I call on his landline, his wife usually picks up the phone. I don't care for her much, I don't like small talk, and I despise her nasally Fran Drescher voice.

Oh man I hate calling people when I'm not sure that they know I am going to call. I have tremendous anxiety for calling strangers. When it comes to my friends, I tell them exact times that I'll call and I call them at that exact time. My friends get a little annoyed though, because I'll say hello, but then I won't say anything after. I'm not sure why I don't say anything, but I don't. Conversations tend to work best for me when I rehearse them before hand. Oh well.

I've worked at several call centers and fast food restaurants where I had to give a standard greeting such as, "Thank you for calling/choosing (name of business), how can I help you today?" I had about 80-100 callers a day and it would get stuck in my head.......so much that when I got home and answered the phone, instead of saying "hello", I'd spout out the greeting of whatever job I was working at the time.

It's ironic that I'm a call center rep yet when I'm off duty, I would rather have an enema than talk on the phone.

I answer the phone a lot at work, and I always mumble that intro out. "Coronial Investigation Unit. Shea speaking." I've made it into a rote thing so that I have to catch myself when I go to answer the phone at home and saying that. The one thing I hate, is telemarketers and survey takers. Argh, they're annoying. But I have a good excuse: "I'm not the billpayer, you're after my dad and he's not home right now."
And they're almost ALWAYS indians with horrible accents.

Oh yeah, telemarketers are the worst. They're the reason I don't pick up the phone in my home anymore. It drives my family crazy.

Hmm. I never really felt that I have trouble with phone calls. I mean I usually just let the other person do the talking and answer questions when asked. Let the other end decide how to handle the conversation. Unless it is a close friend or something in which case formalities aren't needed at all (and more or less not used except for the "hello" bit so we recognize each others voices).

Lucky for me it is rare for me get a call from a telemarketer, so I don't have those problems.

Agreed. That's one of the good things about silent numbers
I guess if I was in a situation like that I might get it stuck in my head so it was a natural reaction, but I would probably still ramble it out too fast. I guess it's because I try to say what I'm meant to say in the same amount of time as it takes to say "hello?" so I try to fit a huge sentence into a second so it's similar to saying hello. I have no idea why

I don't like when a friend of mine doesn't answer the phone, and I have to ask for them.

I care way too much about what people think and think that whoever answers will not like me/think i'm weird.

Its more a paranoia thing.

I hate talking on the phone, i would rather drive to someone's house and talk to them, than spend a few minutes on the phone.

I hate leaving messages. I get tongue tied and can't think of what I was gonna say, so it usually comes out jumbled, then I laugh and hang up. Sometimes with a message and sometimes not.

Yup, I agree!