For the first option, John Brown simply doesn't take the call. Halfway through the conversation, John Brown leaves the phone, a corded phone of course, sitting on the kitchen table, receiver up, unattended. John Brown simply ignores the phone and goes outside to take care of his farm and family himself. He loves to do this and spends much of his time feeding the animals on the farm. In particular the cows are some of the nicest animals he prefers to take care of, which gets him out of having to do a meet and greet for the team. Which, admittedly, is probably for the best because the last time people asked him to do a meet and greet he spent the time loudly proclaiming the evils of slavery and the for profit prison system in the United States. It's something he's well known for being very outspoken about, of course. He just doesn't like having to do it over farmwork.