Saga of Cell Phone Accident...

toedtoes wrote:
My dad told me once how he was paying $50 a month to have all his home phone calls forwarded to his cell phone. I asked him why he would throw away that $50 every month.

He said he got important calls that he couldn't miss. I asked him what important calls. His response:

The other day, I got a call from the pharmacy that my Rx wouldn't be ready for pickup until the following day. I was at a dog show that day, so if it hadn't been forwarded I would have missed it. That call saved me a trip.

I said "if you were at a dog show all day, you weren't planning on picking up the Rx until the following day anyway, so if you had missed the call, it wouldn't have made any difference."

He had no counter to that. But he still believed every call was a matter of great importance that couldn't be missed.

A co-worker routinely takes calls from her husband, grown kids, and grown grandkids. She will stop a work conversation to answer her cell phone for them. Once her husband called to tell her to call him at 2 pm and wake him up so he could go to his volunteer job. He called her on a smart phone. He isn't that smart since he couldn't just set the alarm on his phone to wake himself up... Her calls are all typical of this type of absolutely unnecessary interruption by her family. And if she doesn't answer, they will keep calling until she does.
She's even taken calls while doing employee interviews and in meetings with executives.

One time, my dad called me on my cell while I was at work at 4:45pm. I was in a meeting and called him back afterwards. He was mad because I didn't pick up immediately and told me I needed to explain to my boss that my dad had health issues and I needed to answer his calls immediately. I asked "so what is your emergency?". I forgot to have your sister take me to the bank. I need you to drive up and take me.

I had to explain that even if I had answered at 4:45 pm when he first called and left work immediately (even though I didn't get off until 5:45), I would not arrive at his house until after 6pm and the bank would be closed before I even picked him up.

Yes, people think their phone calls are all too important to miss. Whether it's because they like to feel important, like to control, or are just lonely, answering that phone is a rush. And they ALWAYS have a loud obnoxious ring so that everyone else KNOWS when they get those important calls.