PROTIP: You Have to Recharge Your Phone More Than Once
I went toy shopping with my parents this afternoon, since my niece is turning one in a few days. They started looking at slides, and this led to my dad calling my sister-in-law to discuss the size and features of the various slides available at Toys-R-Us. Call me dumb, but I'm pretty sure this isn't a complex decision. Kids like slides, this one can be folded up for easy storage, and that other one probably can't, even though it has a tarp on it so it doubles as a sort of tent.
Anyway, my dad's phone ran out of power, so he asked me for mine. The problem is that I don't have the number, because I recently got a new phone and I haven't set up all the contacts. Mom's phone never had power to begin with, because she leaves it in her purse all the time. So he says call Jim and ask him for the number. I have Jim's number because I probably called him when I got the new phone to make sure it worked right.
Turns out Jim hasn't set up his contacts on his new phone either, but he was at home, so he could fire up his old phone and look it up that way. While this process takes place, my parents are all impatient about this, and we made fun of them for never plugging their phones in. I get the number, Dad calls my sister-in-law, we buy the slide, fine.
What annoys me is that my parents were still deflecting this on me, saying I should have updated my contacts by now. And yeah, they're right, but it's a pain in the ass, and it's not like I don't have the information. It's all in my old phone, and a paper address book at home. I just never expected to need to call family members in a toy store. I'm still not sure why that even needed to happen.
My dad's like "What would you do in an emergency?" I guess I'd call Jim and hope he has his old phone on him... no, wait, I'd call 911, which is purposely easy to remember because that's what you're supposed to do in an actual emergency. I memorized my parents' landline number when I was in grade school, I have my Dad's cell number from when he called me recently, and my Mom's cell number is useless because she never charges it. Besides, if I needed to alert my entire family, I'd do it by e-mail.
Also, I don't get why Jim's getting crapped on for basically helping everybody out. This is a paraphrased transcription of our conversation:
JIM: Hello?
MIKE: Yeah, Dad didn't plug in his phone, so he needs me to call Molly, but I don't have the number.
JIM: Well, let me turn on my Droid here... hang on. Where are you?
MIKE: We're in Toys-R-Us.
JIM: Okay, I've got Brad's cell phone, will that work?
MIKE: Yeah, that's fine, gimme that.
This is what my parents seem to think we were doing.
DUMB JIM: Herp?
DUMB MIKE: OMG i'm rly dumb and need fone number.
DUMB JIM: Daaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhokay!
DUMB MIKE: But me not know how count things that are the things.
DUMB JIM: did u see WCW this week?
DUMB MIKE: OH MY GOSH I TOTALLY DID!
The thing is, I'll set up my contacts tonight, but they're never going to charge their phones on a routine basis, so this is probably going to happen again. I guess the upside to this is that I'll never have to worry about people swindling them out of their retirement savings or anything like that. "All right, and my social security number is--[DISCONNECTED]"
Anyway, I hope my nieces don't read this, because I totally gave away that they're getting a slide.
Anyway, my dad's phone ran out of power, so he asked me for mine. The problem is that I don't have the number, because I recently got a new phone and I haven't set up all the contacts. Mom's phone never had power to begin with, because she leaves it in her purse all the time. So he says call Jim and ask him for the number. I have Jim's number because I probably called him when I got the new phone to make sure it worked right.
Turns out Jim hasn't set up his contacts on his new phone either, but he was at home, so he could fire up his old phone and look it up that way. While this process takes place, my parents are all impatient about this, and we made fun of them for never plugging their phones in. I get the number, Dad calls my sister-in-law, we buy the slide, fine.
What annoys me is that my parents were still deflecting this on me, saying I should have updated my contacts by now. And yeah, they're right, but it's a pain in the ass, and it's not like I don't have the information. It's all in my old phone, and a paper address book at home. I just never expected to need to call family members in a toy store. I'm still not sure why that even needed to happen.
My dad's like "What would you do in an emergency?" I guess I'd call Jim and hope he has his old phone on him... no, wait, I'd call 911, which is purposely easy to remember because that's what you're supposed to do in an actual emergency. I memorized my parents' landline number when I was in grade school, I have my Dad's cell number from when he called me recently, and my Mom's cell number is useless because she never charges it. Besides, if I needed to alert my entire family, I'd do it by e-mail.
Also, I don't get why Jim's getting crapped on for basically helping everybody out. This is a paraphrased transcription of our conversation:
JIM: Hello?
MIKE: Yeah, Dad didn't plug in his phone, so he needs me to call Molly, but I don't have the number.
JIM: Well, let me turn on my Droid here... hang on. Where are you?
MIKE: We're in Toys-R-Us.
JIM: Okay, I've got Brad's cell phone, will that work?
MIKE: Yeah, that's fine, gimme that.
This is what my parents seem to think we were doing.
DUMB JIM: Herp?
DUMB MIKE: OMG i'm rly dumb and need fone number.
DUMB JIM: Daaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhokay!
DUMB MIKE: But me not know how count things that are the things.
DUMB JIM: did u see WCW this week?
DUMB MIKE: OH MY GOSH I TOTALLY DID!
The thing is, I'll set up my contacts tonight, but they're never going to charge their phones on a routine basis, so this is probably going to happen again. I guess the upside to this is that I'll never have to worry about people swindling them out of their retirement savings or anything like that. "All right, and my social security number is--[DISCONNECTED]"
Anyway, I hope my nieces don't read this, because I totally gave away that they're getting a slide.