Wednesday, January 12, 2022

R U Smtr Thn A Cll Phn?


This is a post from 2012. I stumbled on it and wow, have I changed in 10 years. I am going to try something I have never done before. I am in the OLD post and changing the date to Thursday. Hope it works.  Greetings from a post from the past. I HOPE.

If you can read the title to this post, R U Smtr Thn A Cll Phn....... You MAY be smarter than a cell phone....

Above collage, the tiny little phone in my hand, has ridden in my car for 7 years. A Tracfone that is for "Dial Out for ER Use Only!"  This includes calling the Cable provider when my house phone goes out.  I bought 50 minutes per month for 10.99 for 7 years. when I transferred HA HA HO HO the minutes I had 2023 minutes. You can tell by that it is rarely used. I don't want/need/desire a cell phone since I rarely talk to anyone. It was bought for safety on my commute to work ONLY.

The Dial Out for ER when my house phone went out last month was a garbled, underwater conversation. Seems after only 7 years of riding in a 125 degree car, the battery went bad and a new one cost more than 3 new phones.

I dash to Wal-Mart for a new phone. YIKES! they have no plain old simple old dial out only phone. After extended information from the manager of the phone dept, she helps me decide on this flip phone for idiot seniors for only 14.88. Since she is a Senior and says She Has One and Loves it. I buy it. Let the fun begin


The USELESS booklet, tells me it will send/receive text. So now I can text my Cable Guy to say the cable is out.

 All I Want is to Dial Out or Answer!

 I need help so Under the list I find, IDIOT SENIOR instructions that say IF you need HELP,  go to the website and there I have to transfer my number, my minutes (this took over and hour since when I finally completed the online transfer it says If you do not agree with 1100 minutes transfer, call this number.

 I call this number. No Speaka De English,  I can't understand a word, well maybe 3 words.

She is losing patience with me (color ME Calm!)

 and says in a HUFFY voice,  ALL I CAN TRANSFER IS 1100 minutes.

 and no matter how many times I said to her, that is what is says on the web site, it said to call you if I don't agree. I don't agree. 

After a while I snapped, JUST ACTIVATE the PHONE.

Next day I call and get a different person and within 5 minutes she had downloaded my other 1200 minutes. (color me HAPPY)


 I went to enter 15 ER phone numbers and HAD NO CLUE how, there was a little NIFTY  Interactive site (see above photo)with a picture of my phone and it said 

For Interactive, CLICK MY BUTTONS... I did click the buttons and after 40 to 50 clicks I GOT IT.

PLUS... the whole point of this story is They Did CLICK MY BUTTONS and I am Not Smarter than a Cell phone.

50 comments:

SquirrelQueen said...

Well if all phones made it that difficult to send a message texting would have disappeared a long time ago.
This is one of the reasons I finally got a smart phone. I tell it who to call and it has to do the work not me.

Kymberly Foster Seabolt said...

Bad experience (and Customer Service) but GREAT POST!

Way to turn lemons into lemonade.

"Color me Calm" was a great line! :)

Catherine said...

Technology... it's a beautiful thing isn't it?? Usually? I have spent about 5 -6 hours over the last few weeks working with our internet provider over the phone about different issues. They are finally going to come on Tuesday and change our modem. Somewhere between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m...... yea... thanks... that is handy when you work all day. :(

Good luck with your new phone!

xo Catherine

From the Kitchen said...

Whew! Both my husband and I have cell phones that we pay a little over $20 every three months for and the minutes roll over. We use them very infrequently as they are for emergency purposes--not to join us at the hip to each other, family, friends, etc. They do not come out in restaurants or while we walk along public streets. That being said, we are thinking about getting an Iphone to learn the technology before we are TOO OLD. I think that in the future, we won't even be able to have landline telephones. OH DEAR!

Best,
Bonnie

Amy Burzese said...

Oh, dear. I love technology, hate customer service because there is none. We have become a non-human, electronic society. Enjoy not using your ER phone.

diane b said...

The trouble with new technology is that it develops faster than the customer service people can keep up. We have the same problems.

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

I still have a very old phone just for ER. I am with you on this one, I am not smarter than the phone. I think when mine goes out, I will grab a teen from the neighborhood to help me out. At least I think I will be able to understand their english.

Good you finally got things up and running.

TexWisGirl said...

well, congrats on the upgrade. i do think everyone should have one for safety's sake.

Anonymous said...

We gave up on cell phones about a year ago. Someone gave us a super smart alarm clock but we can't figure it out!!!! Off to Dollar General I went to buy an idiot senior alarm clock! My adult niece/nephew always tell me that things are not complicated; they are intuitive!!! ha Hope you feel better today. Praying for you each day.

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

OH SO DAMN TRUE!!!!!

He says ---> (after I hooted and laughed my way through this great post of yours...) He says we get very plain ones, through (gasp-cough-spit-whine) AARP.

No texting. Just calls. Easy to see numbers. Use only to call each other, if necessary. (Like.."Where the hell are you?" in the supermarket, etc.) -grin- And for safety in car, if needed assistance.

Cost LOT less than past cell phones, which we hardly ever used, but were costing a fortune.

A thought...

"Blow upon a dandelion,
Close thy eyes,
Chant
This year,
Next year,
Sometime,
Never,
If one clock remains,
We will be together."

~Old song

Val said...

oh what a funny post!! Some great one liners to add to my repertoire of smart remarks. THanks
This is why I got me one of them "smart" phones. LOL
Hope you are continuing to feel good. Have a great weekend

Remington said...

Oh my! It really bothers me when things like this happen! Hope you have a fun weekend!

George said...

You've beautifully described why I let Betsy have completes control of our cellphone. Hopefully you won't need to use your new cellphone at all, since it is for emergencies only.

My Mind's Eye said...

You might not be smarter that a cell phone but you are 200%
FUNNIER!!!
THIS IS HILARIOUS.
Hugs and happy Friday
Madi and Mom

Rose said...

Oh, Sandra....you should do a youtube video...it would be a big hit. This is just hilarious!

I could read it....but I still have those issues when I get someone that does not speak plain English....

EG CameraGirl said...

I don't understand why companies hire non-English speaking people to answer their phones!

Cell phones are much, much more expensive in Canada.

Inger said...

I feel your pain! I remember trying to get charges for all the extra stuff, like texting, internet, etc. off our cell phones. It took forever, and all the while they kept charging us. None of the YOUNG people were able to comprehend what I wanted to do. Until finally, someone more mature, exclaimed: "Oh, you want your cell phone to be just like your house phone! Just for making phone calls?!!!" That's exactly what I wanted, but no one could understand.

Miss Debbie said...

Bless your heart...sorry for the trouble.But your telling of the story made me smile! I had a similar conversation with customer service for hotels.com this morning. Had questions about recent charges. Started out with "sorry, there's nothing I can do". I hung in there (as you said...calmly!) and ended up with a $50 credit. Glad yours ended happily, too!

Unknown said...

Sandra you need to call Roger in India. For that matter you could call Larry also in India. LOL

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Sorry about your bad experience- been there, done that, but I didn't stay calm. :)

Kathy said...

I am a recent new purchaser of an Android Smart phone. Oh, brother, and you think you got problems? It has GPS, Internet Service, including e-mail and all the bells and whistle that I don't have a clue how to use! Everyone is wild about Apps. I don't know how to get them.

Anonymous said...

I usually get things figured out, but only because I will not let a piece of technology defeat me... grrr ... I do have a smart phone and I love it...

Dee said...

This my friend is why I do not have a cell phone...YET. I am waiting for someone to simplify everything.LOL

Chatty Crone said...

Oh my gosh this is so funny! I know just what you are feeling. I hope and pray my small little old flip phone works forever. Kelly just got an a cell phone and oh my goodness that was a HUGE project.

The header is beautiful -looks like you are floating in the leaf.

Love, sandie

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Well--as technology-oriented as we are, we decided not to buy an iPhone (which I thought I wanted).... BUT--since my eyes aren't the best anymore, I don't think I would use it much for internet searching, etc... SO---we purchased another regular cellphone (Verizon) --just like the last one we had (which finally bit the dust)...

We do use the cell quite a bit --since our landline is only for business and junk calls. Family and friends call us on our cell--since we seldom even answer the home phone.... We have unlimited texting --which I do with my kids and some of my friends. The phone does have a camera --but we don't use it. We just use it for telephoning and texting. It works for us --and is only about $30 a month (which includes the texting)...

If it weren't for those junk/political/business/sales calls, we'd get rid of the home phone. BUT--we don't want to give our cell number to any business. SO--right now, two phones work well for us...

Glad you got it all figured out--or did you????? Ha ha
Hugs,
Betsy

Marie said...

My grandma is 82 and she has a pretty red cell phone.:) I'm looking into a new one now. I love my touch screen texting!

Unknown said...

I recently went over from iPhone to a BlackBerry simply because I wanted to get back to the buttons again. Wasn't too impressed by the touch screen. Perhaps because I use to work at Apple and am so use to the products. Btw, I have finally bought me a small camera, that I can easily bring with me.
Have a great day!

Eva

Anonymous said...

Hi Sandra, Great to see you posting again and feeling well.
I love learning all the new things technology has to offer these days, it amazes me.

photowannabe said...

I really hate when the phone is "smarter" than me.
I do use some texting and it has come in handy on occasion.
Since my kids have their umbilical cord attached to the cel I have had to sort of keep up just to stay in touch with them.
A phone for emergencies is really important nowadays.
Love your humor explaining your "adventure".

DawnTreader said...

I'm sure you're smarter than your cellphone. If you can master Photoshop, then you can master the cellphone. I never used mine much while I had one that could only be used for phone calls. Now that I can access the internet on it, and listen to music and audio books, I use it all the time ;)

S. Etole said...

I love my landline phone!

Deb said...

great story Sandra...not a great experience though...I don't know why these things have to be so difficult...

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

We both have cell phones and carry them with us in case of emergency, certainly not because we get lots of calls. We have an older plan with limited calling minutes so I save calling for weekends. And we do have a land line, which gets more advertising calls than actual calls. Like Betsy, we keep it since we don't want to give out the cell nos.

Ann said...

I think Wade would share your feelings about cell phones right now. Ever since we upgraded the last time he has had the worst time trying to figure his out. I took advantage of the free lessons offered by my kids...lol

DeniseinVA said...

These new contraptions always confuse the heck out of me ;)

Linda said...

That's crazy that you can repost and old one! And get comments!! I remember Auntie Sezzzzz wonder whatever happened to her?

NanaDiana said...

LOL- Thank God for cell phones that make things easy! I remember trying to text with a flip phone!!!! xo Diana

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
My Doro is the straightforward calls in/out, texts in/out. Can't even do piccies on it. I most definitely want to be the smart one in our connection!!! (Well done the 'repost' too - nothing old fogey about you dear lady.) YAM xx

photowannabe said...

I just hate that "Simple" is not simple.
I would have given up way...way...sooner than you did..
Why can't we talk to someone that isn't on the other side of the world???
So glad you were able to get connected with all your minutes. I really hope you don't need all of them.
Great repost!!!
Sue

Ginny Hartzler said...

You are a lot smarter than cell phones. Because they are too dumb to make instructions easy, so people will buy another brand. It is amazing to me the DIFFERENCE it makes from one person to the next in customer service!! Some of them are totally clueless about their product, and some know everything. It just depends on which person answers your call. If I don't get the hlep I need, I just keep calling back till I get the right person who will help me.

CheerfulMonk said...

I keep my flip phone in my purse but about a month ago I realized I couldn’t remember how to phone with it (could do texts). I need to practice from time to time. 😀. Modern technology keeps us on our toes.

Ida said...

Oh my gosh woman you make me laugh so hard sometimes. I just enjoy reading your posts even though I'm sure you don't find it funny, more like frustrating. Cell phones are indeed a learning curve and can cause one to curse too.

Mevely317 said...

Good grief, you've got the patience of Job! Good for you!
Were that me, I'd have probably set it out on the driveway and run over it -- once, twice, 3 times. Sometimes I wonder if companies don't make things deliberately difficult -- like your carryover minutes -- so people just go, "The heck with it."

Yes, I remember those phones, and have on several occassions thought about getting one in case of emergency. (Whatever THAT is, I don't know.)

Ann said...

I'm finding that I'm not always smarter than my cell phone. It's so annoying how confusing some of it can get. I hate when I get bad customer service reps too and most especially when they no speaka de english.

Olde Dame Holly said...

No, I am not smarter than a cell phone. Sadly, I am not even smarter than the charging cable.

easyweimaraner said...

you said it: the USELESS booklet ... I still have this old dinosaur-phones from the past ... no idea why ;O)

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

One thing that has not changed over the years is customer service. Cell phones may be smarter but getting help is a slow process. My hubby has finally upgraded to the iphone from the flip phone, he is not happy. Take care, enjoy your day!

Rose said...

I enjoyed this before and it is still a good read...

My Mind's Eye said...

the comment I made in 2012 is still true
Hugs Cecilia

Breathtaking said...

Hello Sandra, I'm only seeing this post for the first time, and as I have said many times technology is beyond my grasp, I only have an old cell phone which I carry for emergencies. I think you have the patience of Job, I would have just given up!!!