Friday, May 11, 2007
Getting With the 21st Century
I am not sure what I think of having a cell phone yet. It's sitting on a counter in the kitchen, the battery has to charge before I can use it or anything.
First I had to take it out of the container, a mess of hostile plastic that had no obvious openings, I resorted to a pair of rusty scissors, and finally got at the contents. Then I had to read the ridiculously complex instructions, and worse yet, install the 'Sim card' and the battery. The 'Sim Card' supposedly goes in a 'pocket'. Actually this is a flat space with nothing pocket-like at all about it!
Installing the 'Sim Card' meant that the battery was FAR harder to install. Next there was the charger, the charger was by contrast to the rest of it simple, I just had to figure out how to get the electric prongs that go into an outlet out, they were retractable like a cat's claws. I don't normally wear nail polish, but I had put some on because I was invited to a party and wanted to look nice, I risked chipping that getting the whole thing done.
Once the thing is charged I have to log onto the site and enter endless strings of numbers to get my phone number.
I got the cell phone so I can be reached when I am out and about. People do complain that I'm hard to reach.
Fine, I need to be easier to reach in order to sell the couch, the bed, the book case, the book cupboard and the entertainment center... I could be downtown and people could call me wanting to buy these things. ...
I had so much trouble putting the damn thing together and the charging leaves me wondering if I assembled the whole thing correctly in the first place.. should it be taking so damn long?
The other reason I got it is the local use phone on campus that I sometimes use cuts you off if you don't dial fast enough. Pay phones are increasingly hard to find thanks to the fact that most people, even the homeless, have cell phones!
Update to Cell Phone Saga: I went to find a pay phone, and basically had to walk a mile, there is one on campus, but it's not working, the nearest pay phone was where I called the regular phone company, to report my problem, and then Tracfone to see what is going on with my phone. Something must be wrong. Maybe I put the damn thing together wrong. It's totally possible. I decided to wait until I hear from or see my neighbor that has a cell phone and have her help me. The helpline people said it should have given a message of 'Charge Complete' in like four hours at the most. So if I did everything right, and odds are I did, there is perhaps some defect. They swore up and down that that isn't possible when I called Tracfone. The good news is by midweek I should have things set up to have the Real Estate Agent come.
I am tired of dealing with technology that is user unfriendly.
# posted by Katja R. @ 7:35 AM 
