coming out of my shell

coming out of my shell

Saturday, October 17, 2015

On being disconnected


We gave up our landline phone recently.  We disconnected it and now we rely on our iPhones to communicate with the outside world. I have had a smartphone for almost 2 years, but I rarely turned it on before. 

I liked having a landline telephone. I do not particularly like talking on a cell phone.  The sound quality is not as good and I have this nagging fear that talking on wireless will eventually give me a brain tumor. But having the landline had become so unpleasant that we really had to get rid of it.

The people who owned this house before us went bankrupt and defaulted on their mortgage. Apparently they skipped out on a lot of other debt, too. After we moved in (a little over a year ago) and got our landline phone installed we started getting harassing and threatening phone calls from their creditors demanding to talk to those people who lived here before us. They asked for the previous owners by name, and they would not believe me when I said I was not that person nor did that person live here.

I could not figure out why the horrid bill collectors were calling OUR telephone number. We neither kept nor received the same number the previous owners used.  I guess the creditors must have used a reverse phone lookup, looking up the house number to find out what the current phone was for this address? That is the only thing I can think of.  But if those bill collectors are so clever with the Internet why couldn’t they find the telephone number for the previous owners?

For over a year we lived with the previous owners’ problems. We stopped answering the landline phone when it rang, instead relying on Caller ID to screen our calls. We continued to get creditor-related calls for the previous owners almost every day. Of course we also got the usual scam telephone calls daily simply because we are retired people who are home during the day. We were under siege.  Over time our phone situation began to drive me a little crazy.

One evening a few weeks ago I had to scramble out of the pool and run dripping wet into the house to grab the landline phone, thinking it must be a family member or a friend.  Who else would call in the evening? I did not make it in time, but the caller left a message.  My reward was a message from a nasty bill collector threatening me (actually not me, but you get the picture) with all sorts of legal actions. She left a return phone number. I usually know better than to call back – it gives them the idea that I am an easy mark. But I snapped.  Like a raving maniac I called her screaming and yelling, roaring that the people they wanted did not live here (and plenty more). I am not proud of myself.  I know it did no good, but I had a year's worth of pent up rage.  I was shaking when I hung up. It took me a long time to get to sleep that night.  Life is way too short for this kind of nonsense.  The next day I called our service provider and had the landline disconnected.

Disconnecting the landline phone did not save all that much money, so there is no windfall incentive to make me happy it is gone. I am only happy not to get the damn calls all day. I hate being forced to do something against my will. I resent not having the landline, but there you go.

I am adjusting to the iPhone. Now I charge it every night, turn it on every day (!), and keep it close by me at all times. I text now, too.  My daughter is delighted that I read and answer her texts in a more timely manner.  My tween granddaughter, who reportedly still exists but has not been seen in weeks, recently texted me from the depths of her darkened bedroom. It was thrilling. T texted me at the grocery store to pick up something he forgot to put on the list.  I messaged him some photos of our grandson riding a horse at the pumpkin farm yesterday.  And I took the *@!# picture with the phone!  If I get in an argument I can prove I am right wherever I may be as long as I can get a signal to google the question.  This is pure magic, people!  I urge oldsters everywhere to make the leap.  I have even texted a question and received an answer from my son-in-law, MV.  My grandson, N, will occasionally FaceTime me. This whole smartphone thing is much better than I thought it would be. I suppose it was past time for me to enter the modern world. Of course I entered it against my will, kicking and screaming all the way. But what else is new?

12 comments:

  1. A wonderful discourse on modern reality. I fell down the rabbit hole four or so years ago. While I do not walk about with it in my hand, my phone does live in my pocket.

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    1. I have to admit I am intrigued by the people who walk around with their phones in their hands. It is quite the cultural statement. Reminds me of an evening "clutch" handbag. Especially the new, bigger smartphones. In fact, maybe that's how we can make our fortune, making clutch-bags for iPhone 6's.

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  2. Cell phones don't work in Chilly Hollow or I'd be right there with you, carting my iPhone around with me. We have a regular landline still using a phone that is 36 years oldl, since when the power goes out (which it does frequently) the cordless phones don't work either. Nothing like living in a rural area!

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    1. I commend you for keeping a phone for 36 years. Must be the same one you had when we both lived in the Frozen Northlands. Sometimes I imagine Chilly Hollow to be like Brigadoon.

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  3. What an awful situation! I seldom answer my landline thanks to caller ID, and that constant ringing drives me crazy. However, I am glad I have a phone that I know where it is. My cell phone is either in the bottom of my purse or some other place that escapes my memory. If someone needs to get in touch with me and can't, they call my husband who's iPhone is always held tightly in his hand.

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    1. Yes, I am so grateful for caller ID. I also chase my phone around quite a bit. I do not carry it in my hand yet, but I can see the logic in that.

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  4. Oh, crap! This bodes ill for me in regards to my resistance to iphones :( . Mind you, I'm not stupid by any means - I can usually intuitively figure out most things computer/intenety - the hold back is in not wanting to loose that voice to voice thing. Texting is so impersonal. I see clearly the advantages of it, but still, it's kind of like loosing that sensual touch of the page of a book. Shoot me, I liked it best when there were no cars - just horses....hahaha
    And by the way, good on you for using Colette, such a pretty name! And was that lovely photo of the marble carving there on your last post when you first published it? I didn't notice - or maybe remember - it being there. So pretty.

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    1. I much prefer talking one on one or on a landline, but sometimes events conspire to force us to go in a direction we don't want to go in. I am trying to learn to surrender when I must. Glad you like the name change, makes it easier in so many ways. Good eye with the photo - I added it a couple days after the original post. I took that photo many years ago in NYC's Central Park.

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  5. I just got a text from my man who is sitting upstairs in his study (I am downstairs watching a talk show on tv). It seems he is not only preparing his classes for the week but watching the show as well and this is how we communicate under these strained circumstances. What did we do in the dark ages? We probably would have called out and woken the neighbours and the cats.

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    1. I can see I have only touched the tip of the iceberg. The possibilities are endless. Texting has already enhanced my relationship with my daughter. It makes her SO happy that I am texting her and responding quickly to answer her texts. I honestly did not realize I wasn't communicating effectively.

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  6. In January Katie was accidently overdosed on her meds. We were at special Olympics and the other two people on Katie's bowling team, both special needs people, had their smart phones with them and helped us find out which was the best emergency room to take Katie to. That incident convinced me to get a smart phone. The best thing about the phone is I love the camera. In fact that's why I got my particular phone.

    I'd like to get of my landline but it's attached to the door of the condo, it's how we let people in in. Sigh.

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    1. Dealing with an emergency is the BEST reason to have one. So glad you and Katie were helped in that way. I am a bit of a photo fiend and have found my smartphone to be extremely useful in that regard.

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So, whadayathink?