After almost four years of devoted service, my trusty cell phone finally succumbed to old age this last week. He’d been a good phone, but lately had started refusing to pass along what people were saying. I’d be able to talk just fine but the person on the other end would remain completely silent, not unlike those commercials running these days where the call is dropped, leading to uncomfortable social situations. Only the calls aren’t dropped, I just sound like I’m deaf because I’m always yelling “WHAT?!? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!”.
When it comes to cell phones, my needs are very simple. I use them to make calls and send a text message now and again. But I don’t download music, I don’t surf the web, and I definitely don’t check my email on them. All I want is a phone with a metal housing* that is a flip-phone style** - and I want it to be small so that it will fit easily in a pocket. Oh, and I really didn’t want a RAZR – everybody has one of those these days and I feel like I’d just be a poseur if I got one this late in their run.
I went to a couple different stores before settling for one where the GF bought her phone a while back. She had a good experience there, and recommended it. As it turns out, their selection was pretty good, and I had it narrowed down to two models. At that point I waited for the sales guy, who was busy with another customer.
Therein lay the problem. The guy buying the phone was apparently battling buyer’s remorse even before the purchase was complete. Every minute or two he’d just start talking about how this new phone he was getting was going to “help him be more productive at work” and “maybe he could get his accounting department to pay for part of it” because “I use my phone a lot for work” and “This phone is really going to be great – even with the extra $30 a month for the data service”. Needless to say, it took almost forty-five minutes for him finish getting his phone set up.
But once that was done it took only about 10 minutes to get my new phone set up. I have a shiny new phone that has a much better camera in it than my old one, which means way better photo blogging! Plus I feel good knowing that my old phone was going to be refurbished and donated to a charity that gives free phones to low-income women who are victims of domestic violence (the phones are set up to call 911 for free but have no charges for service fees).
And sure my new phone looks like a RAZR, but it’s actually a KRZR, so I don’t look like a complete poseur…just…kinda like a complete poseur. But I shrug that off because it was the only phone they had that wasn't made out of plastic. I'll take looking poseur-ish if it means I don't break my phone multiple times during the year.
* I occasionally suffer from bouts of the “dropsies”.
** I had a “candy bar” style once and found it so annoying to have to lock and unlock the keyboard to prevent accidentally dialing Hong Kong when it was in my pocket.
When it comes to cell phones, my needs are very simple. I use them to make calls and send a text message now and again. But I don’t download music, I don’t surf the web, and I definitely don’t check my email on them. All I want is a phone with a metal housing* that is a flip-phone style** - and I want it to be small so that it will fit easily in a pocket. Oh, and I really didn’t want a RAZR – everybody has one of those these days and I feel like I’d just be a poseur if I got one this late in their run.
I went to a couple different stores before settling for one where the GF bought her phone a while back. She had a good experience there, and recommended it. As it turns out, their selection was pretty good, and I had it narrowed down to two models. At that point I waited for the sales guy, who was busy with another customer.
Therein lay the problem. The guy buying the phone was apparently battling buyer’s remorse even before the purchase was complete. Every minute or two he’d just start talking about how this new phone he was getting was going to “help him be more productive at work” and “maybe he could get his accounting department to pay for part of it” because “I use my phone a lot for work” and “This phone is really going to be great – even with the extra $30 a month for the data service”. Needless to say, it took almost forty-five minutes for him finish getting his phone set up.
But once that was done it took only about 10 minutes to get my new phone set up. I have a shiny new phone that has a much better camera in it than my old one, which means way better photo blogging! Plus I feel good knowing that my old phone was going to be refurbished and donated to a charity that gives free phones to low-income women who are victims of domestic violence (the phones are set up to call 911 for free but have no charges for service fees).
And sure my new phone looks like a RAZR, but it’s actually a KRZR, so I don’t look like a complete poseur…just…kinda like a complete poseur. But I shrug that off because it was the only phone they had that wasn't made out of plastic. I'll take looking poseur-ish if it means I don't break my phone multiple times during the year.
* I occasionally suffer from bouts of the “dropsies”.
** I had a “candy bar” style once and found it so annoying to have to lock and unlock the keyboard to prevent accidentally dialing Hong Kong when it was in my pocket.
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