*Phone Calls

tanadashoes wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...

My phones (both land-line and cell) already ARE in the "Do Not CAll
Register" - for all the good it does! However, it really frosted me to
find a twenty-cent charge for a RECEIVED text message on my last
cell-phone bill! I've no idea who it was from - appeared to be some sort
of "spread the love" chain letter - but I CERTAINLY have no intention of
PAYING for it! At least Verizon allows me to block text messaging. It
blocks me from sending any, too, of course, but since I didn't even know I
COULD, that's no hardship. I have the naive idea that telephones exist
for MY convenience, not the other way around. (I still chuckle over the
woman in the lavatory stall next to mine, whose cell-phone rang while she
was thus occupied, and she actually ANSWERED it!)


Hey, that could have been Ed McMahon calling. Or her kids could have had an
emergency, or her husband's car could have broken down, or her mother may
have fallen and not been able to get up. I've answered my cell in similar
circumstances and been glad I did as once it was a vehicle emergency, once
it was my MIL calling to tell me that her brain tumors (different than the
kind Rob has) were back and once it was a sales pitch. I was quite glad to
flush the toilet while talking to the person. I see the cell phone as a
convenience that you can have fun with.

Pam S.


But face it, would it have made any appreciable difference if you had
let them go to voice mail and returned the calls five minutes later?
What did people do BEFORE cell-phones? If you went to a concert or
restaurant when you were expecting some sort of urgent call (or if you
were a doctor or someone equally subject to emergency calls) you simply
told your answering service where they could reach you, and alerted the
auditorium personnel or the headwaiter that such calls were a
possibility. Judging by most of the calls I overhear in supermarkets or
walking along the street, few if any are of such overwhelming urgency
they couldn't wait until the recipient arrived at their destination.

wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

wrote:

I can't believe you are charged for calls from spammers and telemarketers.
That can't be legal!

It may depend upon your service provider, but Verizon charges for both
incoming and outgoing text messages - to which the monthly call
allowance does not apply. (Actually, I think most providers charge for
incoming and outgoing phone calls, too, but both are charged against
your monthly allowed minutes, so as long as you don't exceed that
allowance, you don't notice.)

OK, but if you don't answer the message, then you're not charged, right?
That is, if the phone is turned off and the message goes to voice mail,
then you're only charged if you access the voice mail, I would think.

Perhaps, I'm not sure. But how would you know whether the call was
legit or not, unless you accessed voice mail to find out?


Otherwise, you would be totally at the mercy of other people calling you.

That's why I let my answering machine pick up incoming calls at home,
and why I resisted getting a cell-phone until I was going to be driving
to Arizona alone with my two cats, and wanted some way of dealing with
possible emergencies en route.


Actually, what *does* happen to a text message if you don't answer it?
Does it in fact go to voice mail? I have no idea, I've never used texting
on my cell. I'm a certified geezer.

Phones differ, of course, but in the "Messages" directory, mine includes
both "Voice Mail" and "Inbox". When you don't answer an incoming call
or text message, the phone indicates there has been one, and gives you
the option of hearing/viewing it. (I've never USED it for texting,
either, but the text message I received ended uo in the Inbox.)

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

What did people do BEFORE cell-phones? If you went to a concert or
restaurant when you were expecting some sort of urgent call (or if you
were a doctor or someone equally subject to emergency calls) you simply
told your answering service where they could reach you

When I was a kid, I remember that when we went out, my dad would sometimes
call business associates to give them the phone number where he would be
available for the next few hours.

I'm also remembering scenes in "Play it Again Sam" (the Woody Allen movie
from the 1970s), about a nerdy schlemiel (who could that be played by? )
becoming lovers with the female half of the couple who were his best
friends. She was a neglected wife and the husband was shown constantly
leaving messages with his answering service as to where he would be in
the next half hour, where he could be reached for the following 45 minutes,
and then where he would be in the hour following that, etc.

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

Granby wrote:
The young ones I know can't spell worth a crap anyway and this text
messaging isn't helping a bit. If I were a teacher I would be yelling
bloody murder by now.

Wait until they're asked to compose resumes and write business emails LOL
Might as well write them in meow-speak!

Jill

"Sherry" wrote in message
...
On Apr 3, 12:56 pm, hopitus wrote:
On Apr 3, 7:05 am, Daniel Mahoney wrote:





Text messaging is a whole 'nother matter altogether.
I can see how it can be used 'usefully' for those who are
hearing/speech
impaired, or otherwise impaired,
but why do teen-agers sit there and text to each other when they
can just '
talk'? Geez, that makes NO sense to me at all.

It can also be really useful for folks who just rally, raelly hate
to talk
on the phone

My employer supplies me with a cell phone, and they don't object to
me using it for personal calls. But they don't want us sending
personal text
messages, so I've got a 2nd cell phone, one I pay for myself, that
is just
for text messaging. I know it's weird, but I absolutely hate to
talk on the phone.

Dan

If anyone is really interested in why young people are so hot on
texting
instead of phone talk: I refrain from my customary "duh" and point
out that you can sit in class all day and text *silently* (no, that
is not why
he's called "Silent" Bob) behind a screen of your book(s) and yon
"teach" will never have a clue! Maybe when you fail finals. Or not.
FYI I believe land-lines are heavily victims of phone solicitation. I
dumped
land-line service years ago, like the kids use only cellular, and
have *never*
gotten a solicitation call from robot nor hoomin. Only wrong #'s once
in
awhile are dudes calling some construction business crew chief whose
# differs one digit from mine. If yoou insist on going land-line,
skip the
directory listing. Or list your cat's name and keep a straight face
and
stiff upper lip when giving it to the phone company new-service
person.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I really hate that "text" has become a verb. Just my off-topic .02.

Sherry

tanadashoes wrote:
"Granby" wrote in message
...
The young ones I know can't spell worth a crap anyway and this text
messaging isn't helping a bit. If I were a teacher I would be
yelling bloody murder by now.

Nope, they just follow the local school's policy. Here it is to
confiscate the phone and they and their parents can fight the
principal's office to get it back. It is clearly stated that one is
not supposed to have cell phones in class or to use them on the
school campus. I'm nicer than some subs, I give them one warning
before I take the phones. I also write down the names of whoever had
the phones in the class room and let the teacher tear a strip out of
them if s/he wishes.
Pam S.

UR mising the !

The problem is all that text-speak seems to translate into the way these
kids write and (don't) spell. No punctuation, no grammar, awful text-speak
abbreviations like UR instead of You're.

Jill

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
tanadashoes wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message ...

Hey, that could have been Ed McMahon calling. Or her kids could
have had an emergency, or her husband's car could have broken down,
or her mother may have fallen and not been able to get up.

Pam S.


But face it, would it have made any appreciable difference if you had
let them go to voice mail and returned the calls five minutes later?
What did people do BEFORE cell-phones? If you went to a concert or
restaurant when you were expecting some sort of urgent call (or if you
were a doctor or someone equally subject to emergency calls) you
simply told your answering service where they could reach you, and
alerted the auditorium personnel or the headwaiter that such calls
were a possibility. Judging by most of the calls I overhear in
supermarkets or walking along the street, few if any are of such
overwhelming urgency they couldn't wait until the recipient arrived
at their destination.
I've yet to overhear (and you certainly can overhear, whether you want to or
not!) any sort of urgent cell phone conversation. It's *always* unimportant
drivel. I'd go nuts if I felt I had to go through life with a phone glued
to my head.

Jill

Yowie wrote:
hopitus wrote:
On Apr 3, 7:05 am, Daniel Mahoney wrote:

It can also be really useful for folks who just rally, raelly hate
to talk on the phone

If anyone is really interested in why young people are so hot on
texting
instead of phone talk: I refrain from my customary "duh" and point
out that you can sit in class all day and text *silently*

I don't personally use it, but then again I don't have Ipod either. My
mobile phone is there for when I'm running late (I also use it as my
address book), but I tend to prefer the 'land line' for chatting to
friends. Still, if I was younger and wanted my own phone rather than
having to share my parent's phone line...

When I was 18, working and still living with my parents I paid to have my
own land-line installed. Problem solved. Of course this was light-years
before cell phones

But seriously, I don't understand why 9-year-olds need cell phones. You can
say it's in case of emergencies... to which I'd ask (as Evelyn did) what did
people do *before* cell phones? If there was an emergency parents were
contacted by a teacher, a neighbor, the babysitter. (And the parents were
reached at their workplace, friends' house, restaurant, etc. by way of a
land-line.)

Granted, times were different when I was a kid (pre-teenager). For one
thing, I wasn't allowed to run around all willy-nilly. It never would have
occurred to my mother to drop me off at a mall or an arcade. I played on
the block within yelling distance. If I was going to play at little Jimmy's
house she knew that's where I'd be. Kids in my day didn't have a million
social obligations and after-school activities they had to attend to,
either. I was a Girl Scout for a while, and I took ballet lessons. I'm
sure some adult would have called her if I'd broken my ankle

Jill

I suppose by the time they have to do those sort of things, the world will
be in a place where their bosses are used to doing the text thing too. I
can figure out most meowchat, have seen a few of the text messages I can't
figure out. Good thing I don't play the lottery, I might miss being
notified I won a gazillion dollars!
"jmcquown" wrote in message
. ..
Granby wrote:
The young ones I know can't spell worth a crap anyway and this text
messaging isn't helping a bit. If I were a teacher I would be yelling
bloody murder by now.

Wait until they're asked to compose resumes and write business emails LOL
Might as well write them in meow-speak!

Jill

"Sherry" wrote in message
...
On Apr 3, 12:56 pm, hopitus wrote:
On Apr 3, 7:05 am, Daniel Mahoney wrote:





Text messaging is a whole 'nother matter altogether.
I can see how it can be used 'usefully' for those who are
hearing/speech
impaired, or otherwise impaired,
but why do teen-agers sit there and text to each other when they
can just '
talk'? Geez, that makes NO sense to me at all.

It can also be really useful for folks who just rally, raelly hate
to talk
on the phone

My employer supplies me with a cell phone, and they don't object to
me using it for personal calls. But they don't want us sending
personal text
messages, so I've got a 2nd cell phone, one I pay for myself, that
is just
for text messaging. I know it's weird, but I absolutely hate to
talk on the phone.

Dan

If anyone is really interested in why young people are so hot on
texting
instead of phone talk: I refrain from my customary "duh" and point
out that you can sit in class all day and text *silently* (no, that
is not why
he's called "Silent" Bob) behind a screen of your book(s) and yon
"teach" will never have a clue! Maybe when you fail finals. Or not.
FYI I believe land-lines are heavily victims of phone solicitation. I
dumped
land-line service years ago, like the kids use only cellular, and
have *never*
gotten a solicitation call from robot nor hoomin. Only wrong #'s once
in
awhile are dudes calling some construction business crew chief whose
# differs one digit from mine. If yoou insist on going land-line,
skip the
directory listing. Or list your cat's name and keep a straight face
and
stiff upper lip when giving it to the phone company new-service
person.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I really hate that "text" has become a verb. Just my off-topic .02.

Sherry

We did not have a phone until I was in high school. I heard my oldest
brother telling the grandkids. "It didn't matter if we were a mile from
home or 5 miles, by the time we did something wrong and got home, Mom knew
about it. He was right. Or, some other parent would come out of their
house and give you a whacking for what you did.
"jmcquown" wrote in message
. ..
Yowie wrote:
hopitus wrote:
On Apr 3, 7:05 am, Daniel Mahoney wrote:

It can also be really useful for folks who just rally, raelly hate
to talk on the phone

If anyone is really interested in why young people are so hot on
texting
instead of phone talk: I refrain from my customary "duh" and point
out that you can sit in class all day and text *silently*

I don't personally use it, but then again I don't have Ipod either. My
mobile phone is there for when I'm running late (I also use it as my
address book), but I tend to prefer the 'land line' for chatting to
friends. Still, if I was younger and wanted my own phone rather than
having to share my parent's phone line...

When I was 18, working and still living with my parents I paid to have my
own land-line installed. Problem solved. Of course this was light-years
before cell phones

But seriously, I don't understand why 9-year-olds need cell phones. You
can say it's in case of emergencies... to which I'd ask (as Evelyn did)
what did people do *before* cell phones? If there was an emergency
parents were contacted by a teacher, a neighbor, the babysitter. (And the
parents were reached at their workplace, friends' house, restaurant, etc.
by way of a land-line.)

Granted, times were different when I was a kid (pre-teenager). For one
thing, I wasn't allowed to run around all willy-nilly. It never would
have occurred to my mother to drop me off at a mall or an arcade. I
played on the block within yelling distance. If I was going to play at
little Jimmy's house she knew that's where I'd be. Kids in my day didn't
have a million social obligations and after-school activities they had to
attend to, either. I was a Girl Scout for a while, and I took ballet
lessons. I'm sure some adult would have called her if I'd broken my ankle


Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
. ..
tanadashoes wrote:
"Granby" wrote in message
...
The young ones I know can't spell worth a crap anyway and this text
messaging isn't helping a bit. If I were a teacher I would be
yelling bloody murder by now.

Nope, they just follow the local school's policy. Here it is to
confiscate the phone and they and their parents can fight the
principal's office to get it back. It is clearly stated that one is
not supposed to have cell phones in class or to use them on the
school campus. I'm nicer than some subs, I give them one warning
before I take the phones. I also write down the names of whoever had
the phones in the class room and let the teacher tear a strip out of
them if s/he wishes.
Pam S.

UR mising the !

The problem is all that text-speak seems to translate into the way these
kids write and (don't) spell. No punctuation, no grammar, awful
text-speak abbreviations like UR instead of You're.

Jill

You're right. I'm glad that I don't have to tell these kids why the teacher
is giving them a lower grade for their work. A lot of teachers feed into
this by giving them multiple choice tests etc. I hated writing essays when
I took tests in high school, as I have totally lousy handwritting and with
dyslexia, well, spell check is my friend. I understand essays now, it's not
just the spelliing, but grasping the concept of the question and being able
to put the answer into one's own words.

I don't use text messaging as I cannot handle the lack of English usage in
them. I called Mandy the other day and got my first text message (that I
accepted at least) it read "in class." Mandy is smart enough to know that
had she written "n clas" or some drivel like that I'd have torn her head off
and spit down her throat. Her grasp of English spelling and grammer is poor
enough to turn her poor mom's hair gray. She's still better than most kids
her age, but her writing makes me wince. Mike can actually use the English
language as intended.

Pam S.