Cell phone for a second grader

Banty wrote:
In article , toypup says...
[snip]
Right. But my problem has been with the school office and teachers (and one
friend who is one of those hooked-up folks with the cell on her beltloop..).
They call my *cell*. Getting my message box, they leave a message, and think
they're done. I'm sitting at work, I'm sitting right next to my landline at
home; no call.
[snip]
I'd leave a message with the teacher that you don't turn your cell phone
on, especially on the emergency calling card (where I wouldn't even bother
to list my cell phone). Then they shouldn't complain. If they do, just
remind them you don't turn it on and don't let it bother you. They should
get it eventually. If not, it's their problem, not yours.
[snip]

But life comes at ya fast (like the ad). Things have changed! Now Mommy
presumably has her cell attched to her Mommy-jean gathered waistline while she
hauls little bro and little sis around all tarnation dontcha know. And the
emergency card numbers get programmed into some database, which loses my big red
bold arrows, and the new default is - the cell! Argggh.

It *is* my problem if I want to be contacted by the school regarding my son.
And I do, no?
[snip]

Well, I want a message left on my home phone, but also for them to ring
my mobile.

Basically, all our phones seem to go to answer phone mode if you don't
answer them within a few rings. So I might be rushing to the phone
when it kicks into answer mode, or I might be in the garden and not hear
it, or I might have gone to the corner shop. I'll see the message light
next time I pass, and get the message. I probably won't even have my
mobile on, and if I do, I won't check it (because I'm at home).

However, sometimes I'm not home, and I'll have my mobile with me and
on. I've been in that situation a couple of times where the school
really does need to contact me, and I'm not at home.

For instance earlier this year, I spent a lot of time visiting someone
in hospital over 60 miles from home. I had time to drive to the
hospital, have a reasonable visit, and get home about the same time as
the kids got out of school.

There were two occasions where the school had to be in touch with me
before I got back. Once was to say the after-school club had been
cancelled, so i had to make an alternative arrangement, and once
because the child had had an accident (not serious, but I needed to
know). Yes, in both cases the school would probably have managed, but
I did need to know.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

"Banty" wrote in message
...

Right. But my problem has been with the school office and teachers (and
one
friend who is one of those hooked-up folks with the cell on her
beltloop..).
They call my *cell*. Getting my message box, they leave a message, and
think
they're done. I'm sitting at work, I'm sitting right next to my landline
at
home; no call.

Then they complain that 'they couldnt' raise me by phone', assuming that,
since
I didnt' answer my cell, and dontcha know *everyone* has their cell with
them
all the time, they weren't going to try my landlines either.


Maybe they'd all like a new poster? You know the one. It says something to
the effect of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results. Get the one with a pic of a cell phone and
paste in your face by the phone.

I know. Sarcasm off. I just couldn't resist it. I'm with you on this one.
If there's a problem they should call *all* your numbers. If there isn't
they should leave you voice mail at home. You'll be home eventually.

This issue is similar to the one i have about people failing to follow
instructions when I call a business/doc and leave a please call me at work
between 9 and 5 message and, they invariably leave me v/m at home. Um, they
are closed when I'm home and they don't follow instructions well, and, I
can't get a live person on the phone when I call them. Sigh. Maybe its
just that there is so much to process people put as much as they can to
auto-default mode and don't think before acting?

So, what happens when you put an outgoing message on your v/m telling people
you don't respond to messages left on your cell phone? Have you tried that?
It *might* work, although I've noticed an amazing number of folks who fail
to listen to outgoing voice messages on all manner of phones.

You have my condolences, but know you are not alone in your frustrations.
God forbid they should ever be attempting to reach you in a true emergency.

Aula

"toypup" wrote in message
.. .
On 12 Sep 2007 13:24:31 -0700, Banty wrote:

It *is* my problem if I want to be contacted by the school regarding my
son.
And I do, no?

Sure, but they can leave messages like everyone else. For emergencies,
can
you just have them take your cell phone number out of the school's
database? Then, they'd have no choice but to call a land line.

I just don't fill in the blanks on forms that request email addy's or cell
phone numbers. Then they don't have the info and can't [mis] use it. You
are a bit beyond that stage with the schools, but perhaps a letter to the
attendance officer and/or school guidance folks might have an impact.
Either that or a letter to the editor of the yellowest local news paper you
can find. [ok, back to the evil grin dept., sorry]

-Aula

Aula

"toypup" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:08:34 -0400, Aula wrote:


This just underscores your later point [snipped below] that many just
don't
seem to be able to wait a little while to contact someone.

No. It just reinforces the fact that people like me don't like talking to
machines.

So, what do people who refuse to leave voice messages do in order to get a
return call in this day and age of do more with less often translating to no
live people who have time to take written messages and walk them around
large buildings to find someone?

-Aula, wondering

"toypup" wrote in message
...
Miss Manners says we don't have to talk to machines.

I wonder if she says that about private lines only or includes business
lines as well. Those who refuse to leave v/m for our staff, who do not
answer their phones when they are with a client, on another line, in the
bathroom, or out sick, receive services at a much slower speed because the
business must then be conducted either face to face or via snail mail. That
is not uncommon in the business world. Even a message simply requesting a
return call to so and so at xyz number works. Details on the message are
often not required, although in our office we do request that a case number
also be left so that we can pull the file before returning the call.

Aula

When dh had a heart attack in the Bahamas, he was airlifted to Miami.
We had made an appointment for 3 weeks after he got out of the
hospital with the doctor that did his procedure. The doctor
subsequently decided not to work on that day. So what did his office
do??? They called our MARYLAND landline number and left a message.
Even though they had a local contact number (dd#2 where we were
staying). How stupid is that?

As a result we showed up for his appointment to find no doctor there,
and the office in complete chaos because the office manager had gone
to a branch office and wanted some records that it turned out (after
they turned the office upside down looking for them) that she had
taken with her. The office was too busy to train the new office girl
at her first day at work. Eventually I started helping them out by
answering phones and filing records. (It's not rocket science)

Because I was nice to them, the defacto head office person let us see
the senior member of the practice which was a much better deal for dh
than if he'd seen the original doctor.

"Aula" wrote:
"Banty" wrote in message
...
Nan - by "ignore" do you mean screening calls, and not necessarily picking
up
for you? Because I know some folks just hate getting that answering
machine,
even if people do pick up.

There are a *lot* of people out there who just don't seem to want to leave
voice mail, even for people at work, which simply astounds me. I cannot
begin to tell you about the times when i cover our front desk and transfer a
call to someone's phone, only to have it go to v/m because they are on a
line or with a client, and the person immediately phones back and wants to
talk to someone right away because they didn't get their worker. I ask if
they've left their worker a message [remember, I'm the supervisor they think
they are going to talk to after bypassing their worker] and they tell me
they did not. I explain to them that their worker will return their call,
usually within the day, but they cannot do that unless they leave a message
and *then* ask if they are going to be available by phone later. It is rare
that they are both in a crisis of some sort and cannot wait for a return
call or have no way for someone to call them back later. They always agree,
at that point, to go back to the worker's line [and not always to v/m if by
then the worker ended their other call].

This just underscores your later point [snipped below] that many just don't
seem to be able to wait a little while to contact someone. The crisis is a
reason to phone 911 or find someone to let them know there is a life or
death issue. It is not a crisis that you cannot immediately tell someone
that pink nail polish is on sale. I think it all started with instant
mashed potatoes. ;-) Patience has taken a real nose dive in first world
cultures, or at least in the US.

And, being personally consistent, I do not give out my cell phone number to
anyone. My boss, husband, son and parents have it. That's it. I think
I've received five incoming calls [other than misdials] in the three years
I've had it. I plan to keep it for my use in an emergency [picture sliding
off the road in a snow storm] or the occassional call to let family know I'm
running late coming home from somewhere. That's it. It is for my
convenience and I refuse to play attendance on it.

-Aula

I've finally gotten my older two dds to call my landline first and it
helps that we've had that number since 1973 when the oldest was in 7th
grade. DD#3 is more likely to communicate by email.

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
When dh had a heart attack in the Bahamas, he was airlifted to Miami.
We had made an appointment for 3 weeks after he got out of the
hospital with the doctor that did his procedure. The doctor
subsequently decided not to work on that day. So what did his office
do??? They called our MARYLAND landline number and left a message.
Even though they had a local contact number (dd#2 where we were
staying). How stupid is that?

As a result we showed up for his appointment to find no doctor there,
and the office in complete chaos because the office manager had gone
to a branch office and wanted some records that it turned out (after
they turned the office upside down looking for them) that she had
taken with her. The office was too busy to train the new office girl
at her first day at work. Eventually I started helping them out by
answering phones and filing records. (It's not rocket science)

Because I was nice to them, the defacto head office person let us see
the senior member of the practice which was a much better deal for dh
than if he'd seen the original doctor.



It sounds like that worked out for you, but I do hope that the office staff
learned the lesson that day. You would think that working people would be
the first ones to check to see if you listed a number other than home as the
primary *day time* number!

-Aula

In article , toypup says...

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:08:34 -0400, Aula wrote:


This just underscores your later point [snipped below] that many just don't
seem to be able to wait a little while to contact someone.

No. It just reinforces the fact that people like me don't like talking to
machines.

Actually, in that case, it's more of a fear of one's call going into a black
hole of day after next callbacks and "telephone tag". Or that 4:30 callback
hour that seems to hold true a lot of times. Every professional seems to have
that 4 to 5 o'clock message-answering habit. Which means, if I call two medical
offices, I'll be on the phone to one, when the other call comes in.

Although I have no problem at all talking to an answering machine, when it comes
to leaving messages with realtors, doctor's office, and the like, I really
resist it. It's not the machines; it's the hassles with the callback.

It's not even that I think I deserve to talk to them *right then*. If I *knew*
that I'd get a call within a certain time (yes, I know - that call taker
ALLLWAYYYS says the call will be returned - yeah, does it??) then I'd be happy
with it. If I knew when to stand by, I'd be happy with it. But it's telephone
tag.

Frankly, if it's something like calling a set of companies to, for example, get
estimates for work, a situation like that will put me off.

Not the 'talking to machine' factor; for me it's the callback factor.

Banty

In article , Aula says...


"Banty" wrote in message
...
Nan - by "ignore" do you mean screening calls, and not necessarily picking
up
for you? Because I know some folks just hate getting that answering
machine,
even if people do pick up.

There are a *lot* of people out there who just don't seem to want to leave
voice mail, even for people at work, which simply astounds me. I cannot
begin to tell you about the times when i cover our front desk and transfer a
call to someone's phone, only to have it go to v/m because they are on a
line or with a client, and the person immediately phones back and wants to
talk to someone right away because they didn't get their worker. I ask if
they've left their worker a message [remember, I'm the supervisor they think
they are going to talk to after bypassing their worker] and they tell me
they did not. I explain to them that their worker will return their call,
usually within the day, but they cannot do that unless they leave a message
and *then* ask if they are going to be available by phone later. It is rare
that they are both in a crisis of some sort and cannot wait for a return
call or have no way for someone to call them back later. They always agree,
at that point, to go back to the worker's line [and not always to v/m if by
then the worker ended their other call].

But I hate that too. Too much experience with playing telephone tag.


This just underscores your later point [snipped below] that many just don't
seem to be able to wait a little while to contact someone. The crisis is a
reason to phone 911 or find someone to let them know there is a life or
death issue. It is not a crisis that you cannot immediately tell someone
that pink nail polish is on sale. I think it all started with instant
mashed potatoes. ;-) Patience has taken a real nose dive in first world
cultures, or at least in the US.

It's not the wait; it's the uncertainity.

Banty

And, being personally consistent, I do not give out my cell phone number to
anyone. My boss, husband, son and parents have it. That's it. I think
I've received five incoming calls [other than misdials] in the three years
I've had it. I plan to keep it for my use in an emergency [picture sliding
off the road in a snow storm] or the occassional call to let family know I'm
running late coming home from somewhere. That's it. It is for my
convenience and I refuse to play attendance on it.

-Aula

In article , toypup says...

On 12 Sep 2007 13:36:41 -0700, Banty wrote:

In article , toypup says...

On 12 Sep 2007 05:01:29 -0700, Banty wrote:

But that's what this thing called an "answering machine" is for. I'll pick up
if the caller identifies himself and his purpose, or at least by the end of his
message we understand what's going on.

Banty

I would not leave a message unless I have to, so some friends wonder why I
haven't called. I have. I just don't leave messsages because I don't like
talking to machines. Now, they consider it rude, but Miss Manners is on my
side.

She is??

Now, you're not *required* to leave a message (just like they're not required to
answer), so if they're telling you you're rude because you choose not to leave a
message per se, you're correct - they're wrong.

Yes, they complain about rude people hanging up on machines.

Well, they're wrong. You're not required to talk to a machine.

But then you don't get to complain about not getting with them ;-)


But if you're complaining to them that they're hard to get a hold of because
they don't pick up when you call, and they have an answering machine, that's a
different story.

I have never complained to them about that. I leave messages if I really
need to talk to them and that's the only way of leaving my message.

That makes sense.
But I *have* had people say "aren't you ever home???" Well, if it's *important*
they would have left a message.

Sometimes it seems everyone wants to be on everyone else's A-list
I'll-pick-up-for-you-like-you're-my-long-lost-best-friend list... :-/


If thats what you're saying, show me where Miss Manners says
people have to answer their phone each time, or that answering machines are bad.

Miss Manners says we don't have to talk to machines.

OK, that one I agree.

Banty