Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time

[MNeagle]

The Luddites may actually be power brokers
Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time


Your boss not knowing how to type, John Madden refusing to get on planes — these are adorable quirks caused by being old, or phobic, or old and phobic. But a cell phone is so simple to use, so harmless, and so integral to how we've agreed to communicate as a society, that refusing to own one isn't just the act of a Luddite. It's a pretty serious power move.

Everyone has a cell phone now. There are more than 280 million mobile subscribers in America, according to the Federal Communications Commission. According to a 2005 international study by Advertising Age, 15 percent of Americans have interrupted sex to answer their phones. Even people who are videotaping themselves having sex, like Paris Hilton, stop to answer a call.

Not having a cell phone is a way of getting the world to run on your time. A lot of powerful people are already on to this. Warren Buffett doesn't use one. Nor does Mikhail Prokhorov, the 45-year-old Russian billionaire who owns the New Jersey Nets. Tavis Smiley doesn't own one, either.

Smiley, 45, the host of a weekly PBS talk show and a national radio show, freaked out two years ago after realizing he couldn't remember phone numbers or appointments without checking his cell. Smiley believes his decision to give up his cell phone has benefited his 75-employee company, The Smiley Group. "At first everybody was complaining that it would be the death of the company," he says. "What's actually happened is that they get more conversation with me than they used to."

Smiley did suffer cell-phone withdrawal symptoms. "The first weekend I was on the road without a phone, I think my hotel phone charges were $1,000," he says. When he travels now, he steals his assistant's phone.

Getting off the mobile grid forces others to wait for you to get in touch with them. Afsheen John Radsan, 47, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., was assistant general counsel at the CIA and an attorney at the Justice Dept. All sans cell. He even refused to get an answering machine until his parents installed one at his apartment behind his back. Radsan began his habit of not answering phones when he was a young lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell. "If you were called on a Friday, it could only be a partner asking you to work over the weekend," he remembers. "And we had caller ID. So some of the partners would call from an outside phone and say, 'We got you!'"

Working at the CIA, oddly, reinforced his decision, since he couldn't bring any gadgets into the building or take home any of his work. After getting to know the son of an ayatollah, who explained the importance of not responding to everything, Radsan, an avid reader, knew he made the right choice. "I love Russian novels, and (with cell phones) I'm not sure our day-to-day life is any better," he says. His ban on laptops in his classroom has caught on with other professors, he says. The only person his habit seems to annoy is his wife. "She wants to do things on the fly. I'm of the mindset that we can avoid that just by planning. I say, 'Katy, I'll be home at 7 or 7:30,' and she says, 'Let's talk about it later.'"

Hanya Yanagihara, 35, traveled the world as a deputy editor for Condé Nast Traveler without any portable communication device. "In India, even the yak herders and rickshaw drivers have cell phones," she says. Occasionally, when her plans get canceled, she wishes she had one. A few weeks ago her plane schedule got scrambled and she had to tell an associate, so she borrowed a phone from a stranger on her flight. "They give you a sort of pitying look, and assume you're lying or hitting on them," she says of cell-phone lenders. "Then they ask for the number and carefully punch it in. They think you're calling international. They're very suspicious."

Jonathan Reed, 46, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of La Verne, east of Los Angeles, loves traveling without a cell. "I'll talk to strangers. I love going to Italy, where everyone talks to everyone all the time," he says. "A cell phone signals that my whole world is me and it excludes everyone else." He says he has never overheard a cell conversation that wasn't banal. "When I walk around campus, if students are talking to each other in person, you can hear some very interesting conversations." Recently, while in Israel for archeological work, he was struck by how much people use their mobile phones — usually two or three — as status symbols. "I was sitting at a very nice restaurant and two men were sitting there with beautiful women and they were on their phones. Do they have someone better on the other line?"

Reed, like many of his tiny tribe, cites increased efficiency as a reason for not having a cell. "I'm more focused. It forces me to be proactive," he says. It's also a useful management tool. "With 80 to 100 faculty, I wouldn't want to be shackled by a cell phone. In what I do, it's important to pay attention to people when they get a meeting with you. I see people reaching in their pocket when [their phone] vibrates — all of that distracts from your work. At meetings, colleagues of mine miss opportunities to shape the dialogue because they're glancing at their e-mail or going out of the room to make a call."

These non-cell-phone users don't avoid all modern forms of communication. Many are on Facebook and Twitter, and almost all are besotted by e-mail, which gives them time to insidiously shift the conversation to a moment convenient for them. Elena Kostoglodova, a senior instructor in Russian at the University of Colorado at Boulder, whose voice mail says not to leave a message since "my official means of communication is e-mail," responded to my three questions about not using a cell phone with an e-mail twice as long as this article. To summarize: She resents a phone's drain on her time. "I do not want to take calls when I'm playing with my daughter, thereby sending her the message that she is less important than the people who call;" "I don't want to expose my private or professional life talking on a cell phone in public." If students are caught using a cell phone in her class, she promises to reduce their grade by 2 percent. The only time that she was sorry not to have a mobile phone was when a teenager rammed into her car. She had to ask the kid to call the cops.

There are some Luddites among the cell-less class. Not only does Kurt Labberton, a 59-year-old dentist with a staff of six in Yakima, Wash., not have a cell phone, he also avoids e-mail. Instead, he sends his patients handwritten notes. "A quick e-mail is not the same as something with a postage stamp on it," he says. "The one thing you can offer in dentistry is the intimacy of the moment." Labberton sees the impact of cell phones firsthand: He has interrupted root canals and abscesses so his patients can answer calls. Still, he claims, "you can live a 1992 lifestyle and live pretty well." Especially if you have an office full of people communicating with 2010 for you.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38646066/ns/business-bloomberg_businessweek/

[DMac]

I hate cell phones. Naturally, this makes me an anomaly amongst my peers.

I am so happy on those rare days when I am with my GF or family and have accidentally left my phone at home.

[BrewTech]

Anybody who has read Cell by Stephen King knows what the true dangers of having a cell phone are! :P

Interesting article today, considering I just replaced my malfunctioning device yesterday, and I was not eligible for an upgrade yet. Can you say "full retail"? >:(

I knew ya could!

I don't have a land line - my cell is the only way for people (prospective employers, business associates, etc) to contact me these days. Most people aren't too keen on writing letters, and email isn't always appropriate.

How the hell did we even function prior to these leashes? Ugh. Being a slave to technology is, well, sort of embarrassing actually.

[DMac]

We used devices that tethered us to a wall, sometimes for hours on end!

[Ponce]

Well, I live in the "Twilight Zone"....my area doesn't have a cell tower, one mile to my left and one mile to my right there is no signal and my line phone is unlisted ;D

Three months ago my phone repair woman got stuck in her bucket up on phone pole in my property and I had to take my portable power pack to start her truck to bring her down hahahahahahah, a week later she came in with an apple pie........she had a cell but no signal and her portable phone thingy was in her truck.

[zap]

Yep I have no land-line either, all business calls through the cell phone, most the time I don't answer it after 5,

might as well have the damn thing connected to my a$$.

[sirgonzo420]

Yep I have no land-line either, all business calls through the cell phone, most the time I don't answer it after 5,

might as well have the damn thing connected to my a$$.


You do a lot of talkin' out your ass, do ya?

:P

[Libertytree]

I get some pretty odd looks when I tell people I don't have a cell number to call me at, just a land line, leave a message and I'll call ya back. I do have a cell but it's a prepaid one that I keep on hand for traveling or an emergency, I pay the minimum just to keep the account open, costs me $80 a year.

[zap]

I guess I do ! gotta do alot of talking to suppliers, contractors, and mexicans so I might as well be talking out of my a$$. ;)

[MNeagle]

I have a cell for emergencies too, especially having the kids with me. But I barely know how to use it, and have only gotten a few calls on it in 2 years.

[Ares]

Truthfully, I've NEVER paid for a cell phone or a contract. I've just been "fortunate" (if that's what you want to call it) to be employed by an employer that needs to have their employees in reach most of the time.

Could I give it up? Absolutely I have many times in the past when I wasn't employed. Didn't bother me a bit. I have a land line and email. I'll get to it when I get to it. :)

[Heimdhal]

Ive gone looooong periods of time without my cell phone and really enjoy it. IN fact I still rarley use it even now. Ask any body on this board thats tried to get ahold of me by phone, theyll tell you its no easy task (email and the computer, thats a little different.)

In fact, the only reason I recently started using my phone again is because i started working again, and even then most of the time its dead or lost. I am so out of touch with the cell phone world that everyone at works makes fun of me bceause i still use my old cell phone, which is now over 4 years old and still says "Cingular" on it (they went to at&t like 3 years ago).

It is almost liberating to be honest. The world really does "run on your time" because they have no option but to wait for you to get back to them and then they start to realize, like you, that all those little things they had to talk to you about "THIS MINUTE!" really werent that important after all.


Its a quieter, less hectic existence, thats for sure.

[zap]

I remember when there were no cell phones, and you had to use a pay phone, cost 20 cents back then to make a call. when did cell phones come out? I'll have to google it. I was 18 in 1985 and had no idea they were making portable cell phones and at 3500.00 no way.


Following the April 3, 1973, public demonstration, using a "brick"-like 30-ounce phone, Cooper started the 10-year process of bringing the portable cell phone to market. Motorola introduced the 16-ounce "DynaTAC" phone into commercial service in 1983, with each phone costing the consumer $3,500. It took seven additional years before there were a million subscribers in the United States. Today, there are more cellular subscribers than wireline phone subscribers in the world, with mobile phones weighing as little as 3 ounces

[MNeagle]

It's been a while:
http://www.google.com/images?q=tbn:Dmvv0U6hnpUwjM::4.bp.blogspot.com/_ag-ruk8EkrA/SoHkyjb6jOI/AAAAAAAAAFc/wAlWHgCUOC4/s400/wallstreet%252Bphone.jpg&t=1&h=196&w=170&usg=__2eJLrQfC5ImYPCQNDSn23_hHRLk=

[Twisted Titan]

I dont pick up what I dont know.

Leave a message and I will decide if its important.


T

[madfranks]

Getting off the mobile grid forces others to wait for you to get in touch with them.

From a purely economic standpoint, this is a bad idea. It makes you less competitive in the marketplace. Why would a client hire you when he could hire someone else who would be easier to communicate with? Yeah, we're slaves to technology, but this kind of technology makes us more productive.

[StackerKen]

I got rid of our land line a few years ago. The only calls we were getting on it where from telemarketers

In the 70's, my dad had what we called a "car phone". That was High tech and no one else that I knew of had one. It was a big shoebox size thing under the seat,an antenna on the trunk and a regular size phone.

Later he got a huge handheld mobile phone like the one MN posted.

Im not bothered at all by having a cell phone...No one ever calls me >:(

I see mostly advantages in them myself.

[DMac]

Yeah, we're slaves to technology, but this kind of technology makes us more productive.

Sorry Madfranks, but that is a really sad statement. I don't like being a slave to anything or anyone! I bet you would be a lot more productive in your pyramid building if I struck you with a whip every time you stopped to rest.

[Libertytree]

Maybe it's just a personal quirk but I don't like the thought of being at anyones beck and call. (pun intended)

[Luis337]

well I agree with the article in that cell phones at work make for less productive employees. Can't even begin to tell you how many times my fellow workers have been on the phone while driving a forklift inside the store or stop to text. Big waste of time.

Not sure I could go without a cell phone though. Mostly use it to keep in contact with my girlfriend. & I love to text. It also has alarms to wake me up, a calendar in which I can write down notes, a calculator, and a tip calculator that also works great for finding out the exact price of an item with tax. It also has a world timer so that I can know what time it is in Siberia :P, unit conversions for currency, length, weight, volume, area, temperature, a timer, and a stopwatch. Oh and a camera. ;D

[AndreaGail]

half the kids i see nowadays (in classroom, car, hanging out) are just dinking around on their precious smart phone or texting away
so to me, the productivity, at least for this age group, has gone down

people would rather play an "app" than read a book, go on a hike, etc
just one more toy (tv, video games, etc) that keeps us distracted from the more important things

[DMac]

How many people nowadays have good penmanship?

Also, I think texting is a huge help in dumbing down the people as it is debasing the language.

[the riot act]

Five years ago I couldn't live without one. Today the wife and I have "TrackPhones". Only four people have the number, wife, son and daughter, and one friend.

Only put the battery in when I feel like it. And by the way it is 5 years old. No gps crap.

[Luis337]

How many people nowadays have good penmanship?

Also, I think texting is a huge help in dumbing down the people as it is debasing the language.


Wutevor du u m33n, DiMahhk? ;D

[StackerKen]

When I was building our house in the hills and working my regular construction job 8 hours a day,I went over my allowed minutes and had to get a different plan with more minutes.
I don't know how I could have done with out the cell phone.
I was the Contractor for my house. I was on that phone a lot.
Luckily my employer was understanding
We didn't have landline service at the home site either so my wife was on her's a lot too.(calling me)

Like I said...I can't even imagine doing it with out a cell phones

[Rebel Yarr]

I didn't use a cell phone for about 4 years - 2001 through 2005. I work in IT - and everyone thought I was insane.

I started using one again in 2005 and still have it as a replacement of my home phone line - but I rarely have it on my person and I do not carry a smart phone/data service - I still work in IT - specifically with voice technologies - everyone still thinks I am insane - and yeah I am, a little.

It keeps things simple and I enjoy not being on a tether.

[Joe King]

I dont pick up what I dont know.

Leave a message and I will decide if its important.


T



Yea, this.


Why leave your phone at home when you can just call back later if it was someone you didn't want to talk to?
If the boss is calling on Friday to ask you to work on Saturday, just don't answer it if you don't want to.
That way you still have your phone on you just in case you need to use it.
i.e. best of both Worlds.

I've never understood why people feel absolutely compelled to answer a ringing phone no matter what's going on. ???
....and if that describes you, turn it off.
i.e. ignorance of the call is bliss.

[BrewTech]

How many people nowadays have good penmanship?

Also, I think texting is a huge help in dumbing down the people as it is debasing the language.


Texting is indeed debasing the language. I've told my daughter if she is going to text, she is to take the extra time to spell every word out (and correctly) and use proper punctuation. She understands why I insist on this and complies willingly. She has even lambasted her friends for their shoddy communication.

[zap]

Yeah, we're slaves to technology, but this kind of technology makes us more productive.

Sorry Madfranks, but that is a really sad statement. I don't like being a slave to anything or anyone! I bet you would be a lot more productive in your pyramid building if I struck you with a whip every time you stopped to rest.






Yes I am a slave to to the cell phone also may be sad but it makes me money.

My company has 4 phones, each guy has one and me, I need to be able to keep in contact with them and them with me, they are always at least an hr away , people need to contact me to get supplies and equipment and get the guys to their jobsite, and in construction time is money! :D and you need money to buy gold and silver. :D

[gunDriller]

this reminds me of this engineer i used to work with, Maurice.

he was a highly skilled microwave design engineer who was vastly different from his co-worker, William. William was all hands on, even more skilled than Maurice. Maurice gave me his circuits and I managed the department that built his circuits. I had just come from a microwave radio company and now was working at a microwave instrument company. In the mid 1980's.

if i had ever walked up to Maurice and handed him a 100 milliWatt or 3 watt microwave amp with a radio antenna attached, and suggested that he hold it next to his ear, he would have reacted in complete shock and our boss probably would have heard about it within the next 5 minutes.

in that culture, such an act would have been interpreted as hostile, almost like brandishing a loaded gun.

yet hear we have hundreds of millions of people doing a big medical experiment, walking around with microwave radiators next to their heads and sometimes their groin (i talked to this guy at the post office that had his blackberry on his belt, that's where the radio was).

personally, i trust Maurice' judgment. he's just one example. the general practice in microwave technology companies in the early days was not to put microwave radiators near one's body. the antenna was usually put in the trunk of a car.

obviously zillions of people are functioning with their cell-phones, regardless of what the culture was like in the 1980's. personally i trust the conservatism of those more senior guys that i worked with.


of course, i do have 2 1/2 cell phones and neither of them work. ;D

[madfranks]

Yeah, we're slaves to technology, but this kind of technology makes us more productive.

Sorry Madfranks, but that is a really sad statement. I don't like being a slave to anything or anyone! I bet you would be a lot more productive in your pyramid building if I struck you with a whip every time you stopped to rest.






I said that in the spirit that the modern technology we have is essential for performing work to modern productive standards. Whatever your profession is, take away all the technology that makes you more productive than you would be with your two bare hands, and you will see what I meant is that we all depend on technology. Maybe "slave" was the wrong word, but our use of and dependence on technology is why we're immensly more productive today than we were 2000 years ago.

[k-os]

I haven't had a land line since 1997 or 1998.

I have a cell phone, but everyone who knows me knows that I don't answer it unless I feel like it, and most of the time I don't answer it then either. This is what a phone is for: "Meet me at _______ [place] at ____ [time]." The end. I don't want to talk about my friend's awful day at work, unless we're having a beer together too, and I can see her face.

Once a week I go to a restaurant and I see people sitting across from each other, texting or browsing the web on their phones. It's sad. I would never take the time to dine with someone and then be so disrespectful by doing something else like text or browse. People are weird.

I just had to replace my cell phone because I accidentally spilled nail polish remover on my last one (which was 5 years old). While some electronics can recover from being splashed with water, not many can fight of an attack of acetone.

[Heimdhal]

I haven't had a land line since 1997 or 1998.

I have a cell phone, but everyone who knows me knows that I don't answer it unless I feel like it, and most of the time I don't answer it then either. This is what a phone is for: "Meet me at _______ [place] at ____ [time]." The end. I don't want to talk about my friend's awful day at work, unless we're having a beer together too, and I can see her face.

Once a week I go to a restaurant and I see people sitting across from each other, texting or browsing the web on their phones. It's sad. I would never take the time to dine with someone and then be so disrespectful by doing something else like text or browse. People are weird.

I just had to replace my cell phone because I accidentally spilled nail polish on my last one (which was 5 years old). While some electronics can recover from being splashed with water, not many can fight of an attack of acetone.


I dropped mine in a bucket of paint a month or so ago. Then Fanta washed it a week later. This is of crouse the 4th time its been submerged in water (washed twice, by FANTA! and in a lake once. THe bucket of paint and wasehd again, so I guess that makes 5 submersions).

The ringer doesnt work, and neither does the sound for the two games i actualy have on here, but it still works. DOnt plan on buying a new one anytime soon. Its only the second cell phone i've ever owned.

[DMac]

This is what a phone is for: "Meet me at _______ [place] at ____ [time]." The end. I don't want to talk about my friend's awful day at work, unless we're having a beer together too, and I can see her face.



I thought I was one of the only people that think this way. I would normally say something like "you have no idea the slack I get from friends and family" for adopting this philosophy, but I bet you understand perfectly!

[the riot act]

Yeah, we're slaves to technology, but this kind of technology makes us more productive.

Sorry Madfranks, but that is a really sad statement. I don't like being a slave to anything or anyone! I bet you would be a lot more productive in your pyramid building if I struck you with a whip every time you stopped to rest.






Yes I am a slave to to the cell phone also may be sad but it makes me money.

My company has 4 phones, each guy has one and me, I need to be able to keep in contact with them and them with me, they are always at least an hr away , people need to contact me to get supplies and equipment and get the guys to their jobsite, and in construction time is money! :D and you need money to buy gold and silver. :D




I also was in the construction business. We had 2 meter radios. Nextel tried to sell me on their phones when they first came out. No way. First the cost was prohibitive (even though I could have afforded it.) Second, some are always idiots and loose. run over, forget them, and every other thing possible back then.. With the two way radios (2 meter) they were in the vehicles and no one ever lost one. We still got jobs done, and don't by the hype that anyone is more efficient with a cell phone.. When I give someone a task I didn't want them interrupted by a cell phone no matter what.

People worry so much that they will loose business if they miss a call. Let me tell you, if you commit to doing the highest quality work, treat your customers with respect, (showing up on time helps) and dismiss those who want you to work for nothing, you will always succeed.

PS: My employees and everyone else knew that the day was over at 6 PM.

[k-os]

I haven't had a land line since 1997 or 1998.

I have a cell phone, but everyone who knows me knows that I don't answer it unless I feel like it, and most of the time I don't answer it then either. This is what a phone is for: "Meet me at _______ [place] at ____ [time]." The end. I don't want to talk about my friend's awful day at work, unless we're having a beer together too, and I can see her face.

Once a week I go to a restaurant and I see people sitting across from each other, texting or browsing the web on their phones. It's sad. I would never take the time to dine with someone and then be so disrespectful by doing something else like text or browse. People are weird.

I just had to replace my cell phone because I accidentally spilled nail polish on my last one (which was 5 years old). While some electronics can recover from being splashed with water, not many can fight of an attack of acetone.


I dropped mine in a bucket of paint a month or so ago. Then Fanta washed it a week later. This is of crouse the 4th time its been submerged in water (washed twice, by FANTA! and in a lake once. THe bucket of paint and wasehd again, so I guess that makes 5 submersions).

The ringer doesnt work, and neither does the sound for the two games i actualy have on here, but it still works. DOnt plan on buying a new one anytime soon. Its only the second cell phone i've ever owned.


Ooops, I meant to write nail polish remover. ;D

[Phoenix]

We have a hard line phone, and always will.

We each have a mobile phone.

We always have voice mail.

If you're a billionaire like Warren Buffett, or the owner of a company, or a deliberate hermit, you can afford to let people ignore you because you're not contactable.

For the rest, if people cannot contact you, then many will ignore you and move on to someone else. That may be good, or it could be very, very bad. Business opportunity? Reminder of an essential meeting?

And, I am a slave to no technology. Technology is tools, and I maintain my control over them. If I don't want to answer the phone, I don't. But I don't make it impossible for my family or other important people to be able to reach me in a reasonable amount of time. Not having a hard line (I don't like the term "landline," never have) means that one is almost certain to have no outbound communications in an extended disaster. Pretty shocking for people who claim to be prepared for emergencies not to have a "real" phone.

I have nothing but contempt for those who refuse to have answering machines or voice mail. If I can I won't bother with them. And generally, that's their loss, not mine. "Telemarketers" is not an excuse. We get, maybe, two such calls a year, and I put a quick end to further ones from them.

[J in AZ]

Don't have one.

Don't want one.

Life is good!

[Bluegill]

I got rid of my land line in '03, absolutely no regrets. Telemarketers was my main reason. If somebody only got 2 or 3 a year.., well.., I'm not buying that. I had a private number and still got a few a week. Convenience was the second.

I am not a slave to the phone, same when I had a land line. If it is important leave a message or call back if I don't answer.

As far as texting, how we have come full circle. We have regressed back to the telegraph. I will have nothing to do with texting, I always have the feature shut off. If you want or need to communicate with me, call me up and talk to me like a fukking human being.

[1970 silver art]

I use to have BellSouth (before it became AT&T) landline phone but I got rid of it (and the big bill) in June 2003. I do not miss it at all. Most of the phone calls that I was getting on that landline phone number were telemarketing calls anyway. I just have a cell phone and that is my home and work number. Actually my cell phone is a "smart phone" and I use my smart phone for surfing the internet, texting, playing music and for playing videos. Oh and I also use it for talking to someone. ;D

I do not have any problems with a lot of people calling me because I do not have many local friends that call me and I do not have to worry about telemarketing calls on my cell phone.

[oldmansmith]

No cell for either me or Mrs. Old, and I run my business out of my home. I tell clients "you can call me 24/7, but you WILL get an answering machine. Leave a message and I'll call you back."

Some think it is weird, but no way in hell I'm paying for a land line AND a cell phone (I need a land line for dial up out here).

Nothing pisses me off more than listening to some stupid one way cell phone conversation on the plane, etc.

[Phoenix]

Telemarketers was my main reason. If somebody only got 2 or 3 a year.., well.., I'm not buying that. I had a private number and still got a few a week.


Doesn't matter if you're "not buying it." I'm not selling anything.

The "Do Not Call" Registry has definitely helped.

[Phoenix]

I'm gonna emphasize this...




Not having a hard line (I don't like the term "landline," never have) means that one is almost certain to have no outbound communications in an extended disaster. Pretty shocking for people who claim to be prepared for emergencies not to have a "real" phone.

[Bluegill]

Though land lines may be one of the last utilities to go down, they can and do go down. We had it happen here in S.E. MI about 15 years ago (maybe longer). Had it happen one other time more locally and briefly when a car ran over the main junction box.

During the '03 blackout Verizon cellular service worked just fine...

Neither one is any guarantee.

[gunDriller]

Doesn't matter if you're "not buying it." I'm not selling anything.

The "Do Not Call" Registry has definitely helped.


You're lucky.

Do Not Call hasn't helped me. but i do I have a technique for telemarketers - i tell them i just work there and have to go get my boss, then put the phone down.

which reminds me ... i did that earlier today and need to go put it back on the receiver. ;D

one Indian telemarketer actually called me back and left a message telling me i had no common sense. i think i may have saved it, it's fairly classic.

i think they should outlaw robo-calling, so that only people can call you. that way the profit motive keeps it from getting out of hand. if nobody's buying anything from the telemarketers, and people are managing to waste the time of the telemarketers, they're going to be job-hunting shortly.

but with robo-calls, the cost per call is very low, and there is no incentive not to harass people in their homes with solicitations.

[Phoenix]

Though land lines may be one of the last utilities to go down, they can and do go down. We had it happen here in S.E. MI about 15 years ago (maybe longer). Had it happen one other time more locally and briefly when a car ran over the main junction box.

During the '03 blackout Verizon cellular service worked just fine...

Neither one is any guarantee.


Nothing is guaranteed.

For less than $20/month in most areas, you can have a communications system that is 99.9% reliable. Pick up the phone, and the tone is there.

[MNeagle]

Though land lines may be one of the last utilities to go down, they can and do go down. We had it happen here in S.E. MI about 15 years ago (maybe longer). Had it happen one other time more locally and briefly when a car ran over the main junction box.

During the '03 blackout Verizon cellular service worked just fine...

Neither one is any guarantee.


Nothing is guaranteed.

For less than $20/month in most areas, you can have a communications system that is 99.9% reliable. Pick up the phone, and the tone is there.


Agreed, however it must be a corded, wired phone. A cordless phone won't work (at least our cordless doesn't, but the corded one does).

[Buddha]

How many people nowadays have good penmanship?

Also, I think texting is a huge help in dumbing down the people as it is debasing the language.


Texting is indeed debasing the language. I've told my daughter if she is going to text, she is to take the extra time to spell every word out (and correctly) and use proper punctuation. She understands why I insist on this and complies willingly. She has even lambasted her friends for their shoddy communication.


heheh yeah. I make sure to spell out every word and use punctuation, like commas and such. It drives me insane when people abbreviate fucking everything, including people names, and the words "you" and "why". I guess I'm not important enough for proper grammar and I do it with out a full keyboard. Just the hit 4 3 times and 6 2 times etc. shit.