The thing that annoys me, more than anything else, about cell phones, is the way that certain people seem to think that I should be always available. If they call, and I don't answer, the message left is always petulant and irritated, as though by not answering the phone I have committed some kind of insult against them. Particularly if they call my home phone and my cell phone, and I answer neither, then the message is even more irritated.
I remember, not so many years ago, when you could safely take 12 hours to return a phone message, and nobody thought that you had been run over by a garbage truck. These days, if you wait more than 10 minutes to return a message, you get a lecture about how hard they've been trying to get in touch with you. Heaven forbid you should leave your phone home, or ... *horrors* ... turn it off.
I envy my friends who have decided not to have a cell phone, and I wish for a simpler time when I could make a similar decision. Instead of being a convenience, my cell phone is, primarily, something that I pay for so that people I don't want to talk to can get in touch with me no matter where I am. I guess this is the price I pay for being a slave to technology.
I felt this way for a long time, but then I just decided it wasn't worth it, so I started telling-off people who gave me shit about not returning my call immediately. This didn't work well on my wife, but on everyone else it worked out alright after the initial shock.
Posted by: George Schlossnagle on April 10, 2004 10:37 PMI tell people all the time, and I also PRACTICE, that my cell phone is for my convenience. Period. I always tell poeple that I will probably not answer it directly and that they can leave a message and I will get back to them when I can, usually the same day.
My wife is slowely coming around to my way of thinking. :)
Chris
PS - I am something of an email freak I guess in that I have my email programs check for mail every 1 minute. I usually answer back in about 1 minute IF I'm at my desk. Even so, I will take time to answer some emails which may run into several days. This does confuse some people but such is life. ;)
Posted by: Chris Perry on May 5, 2004 12:25 PM