Ring, Ring, Ring
As a kid, I would fight to answer the telephone. I’d run toward the ringing so that I could be the one to pick up the receiver and say, “Hello” Now that we have cell phones, office phones, home phones, pagers, Black Berrys, email, fax machines, etc. we just can’t get a quiet moment to ourselves anymore. The novelty has worn off. The flashing voicemail light on the phone just annoys the crap out of me. Most of the time now, when the phone rings. I sit on the couch and look over to the kitchen counter and say screw it…if it’s important they’ll leave a message and if they are my friend, they’ll call the cell phone.
Last night when I got home, the danged thing was flashing away telling me about a message. I looked through the list of caller ID to see if anyone interesting may have called. But there were no new calls. I wondered if the messages were from the weekend, did we not check voicemail since Saturday? I pressed the button on the phone to make the flashing light go away and I found that there was no dial tone, now I was annoyed. That meant the boy left the other cordless phone lying somewhere to be stepped on by a dog who probably called Tangiers or something and left it off the hook. I climbed the stairs and started searching for the other phone. I found it on the floor next to the bed, but it was off. So I turned it on and off and on again. The line was still dead. Dammit…what now?
I went back downstairs to get my cell phone and called the house. I got the lovely recording, “We’re sorry but the number you are trying to reach has been temporarily disconnected” Awesome… The boy is in charge of the phone bill, I’m in charge of the electric bill.
I called the boy to tell him something is up with the phone. He promises to look into it. But honestly, I’d prefer if the phone was just left off. It was such a quiet night. No more Chris Miller calling about something important for someone who doesn’t even live in our house. Or that other guy who keeps calling for Angela Bennett but then puts us on hold when we say, fine I’ll talk to you to tell you that she’s not at this number. Or those other people who call and we just don’t answer the phone for anymore… Toll Free Call, Nevada Call, Pennsylvania Call.
Bah to all of them, leave the phone disconnected I’d prefer it that way.
