When the phone pranks you
My uncle called yesterday. Mom was out; otherwise she'd have answered. Instead, it was me, and my uncle got the gold star for recognizing my voice. (Mom and I sound similar to people over the phone, and since I rarely answer my uncle's calls, since I know he's calling for his sister, well, we don't talk much.) He was at the retirement castle with my grandfather and asked me to do him a favor and call my grandfather's cellphone. Oh, sure. So I call, and after four rings I hear what sounds like someone pressing a button on the phone, but it immediately goes to voicemail. Hmm. So I try calling again, but a couple rings in I hear the call waiting kick in. My uncle had said if he didn't hear my grandfather's phone ring, he'd call back. Would I mind calling again? Sure, no problem. So I call again, and the same thing happened--four rings, the beep that sounds like someone pressing a button, then immediately to voicemail. When my uncle called back after that time, he said the phone rings, but when you open it up (it's a flip phone), it goes to VM. Well, that's not good. Time to call customer service. Now, mind you, the phone's not that old. It was around when I went to Texas and camp that his original phone managed to go through the wash at the retirement castle, so he'd had to get a new phone then; that was about six weeks ago. So, a bit later, my uncle called *again* to let us know that customer service thought it was a bum phone and they're sending him a new one, but he won't have a phone for about a week or so. If we need to reach my grandfather, we'll have to call the nurses' station at the castle. Bummer. But we can kick it old school if necessary. And, really, I don't think we in this household have been calling him that much. He basically doesn't call us, and we've been so busy for the past few months that, truthfully, we haven't thought about it. Mom is apt to go visit him bare minimum once a week, if not more, especially since he's close to where she works so it's a lot more convenient than any place he's been. So...no phone, no big deal, but it would be nice if it worked. I'm just glad they figured out what the problem was.