Wednesday, May 7, 2008

May I Ask Who's Calling?


Wow, is it the generation gap or is it just me? I’ve tried to adjust to this new age of technology but there are some things I just don’t get. I think cell phones are wonderful but they have created a society of rude people who think everyone on the planet is interested in hearing their conversations. But that’s OK; I realize that it just comes with the territory. However, please turn off your cell phones when you go to the movies…PLEASE. I paid good money to watch a movie and I don’t want to hear your phone ring. Although ring isn’t the right word is it? They beep, they buzz and play the theme from Star Wars or some other obnoxious sound. What I am really bothered by is caller ID. I must be the only person left on the planet who doesn’t have it. My first problem with it is that it’s rude. Everyone is so busy screening their calls that a person knows immediately when they are being ignored. What happened to the thrill of not knowing who would be on the other end of the line when you said in your cheeriest voice “Hello”? Now, when people answer the phone they sound irritated or sometimes bored in a tone of “what do you want now?” That is if you can get them to pick up at all. When Ron fumbles to answer his phone he is usually not wearing his bifocals and spends 5 minutes trying to hold the receiver far enough away to read the number on the caller ID. By the time he actually hits the button and says hello the caller is gone. What ever happened to just picking it up and saying, HELLO? I once answered the phone and someone from AT&T started trying to sell me an upgrade in my service to include caller ID. I told the nice young man that I didn’t want it because not knowing who is on the other end of the line when I pick it up is one of the last thrills I have in life. I genuinely like the surprise of hearing from a friend and besides if I had it he and I would probably not be having this conversation.

1 comment:

Megan said...

It's not just you and it's only a generation thing. A woman at my old work had the loudest most annoying cell phone ring and it rang all the day long. You could hear her rap music ring tone throughout the entire floor. I don't remember how old she was, but she was a grandmother.