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Ron Jackson's Perspective
The Sunday Journal -
Think
Kankakee, Illinois
December 15, 2002
Hanging up on phone
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Although I have no idea who
she was, I was so excited to hear the story with a happy ending of
the kidnapped woman who was found alive.
To be honest, it was how she was able to contact help
while in the trunk of her car that caught my attention. She
used her cell phone. What a novel use for a cell phone.
I have a cell phone, but I am not a big fan of them.
My calling plan allows me almost 4,000 minutes per month for a flat
fee. My average monthly usage is 1.3 minutes. I don't
have that much to say, and I can't think of 10 people I would want
to talk to for almost 67 hours a month.
The cell phone story started me reminiscing about the
good old days. Remember the days when every phone was black
and had a rotary dial? It was so heavy it could also serve as
a weapon against intruders. The best feature it had was the
busy signal that was the forerunner to "call waiting." If
someone called you and you were not home or were on another call,
the caller would have to wait and call again later. That
feature also prevented you from receiving a call, then being put on
hold by the person who called you because they suddenly received a
call from someone obviously more important than you.
The worst feature was the rotary dial. Dialing
could be a chore. Starting with your finger in the number 9
hole, dragging it all the way around to the finger stop, and
releasing it to the sound of a rapid chi, chi, chi, chi, chi, chi,
chi, chi, chi nine times, then three times, then seven times etc.
was not always music to one's ears. If you were impatient, it
never seemed to fail that when you dialed that last zero, your
finger would slip from the zero hole before you reached the finger
stop and require you to hang up and redial the whole number all over
again.
In the days before affordable cell phones, you never
risked getting that one dreaded call.
Ring. Ring. "Hello, this is Ron."
"Hey Ron. What's up?"
"Not much. Just sitting here in my pajamas
reading the morning paper, sipping my third cup of coffee, and
enjoying my alone time."
"Awww, great. Guess where I am?"
"I have no idea. Home, I hope."
"Nope. Look out your window. I'm sitting in
your drive. I hope you have cream and sugar."
That kind of surprise could never happen before cell
phones took over.
Have you ever been behind a person in line at
McDonald's on a cell phone when you can only hear one side of the
conversation?
"Aay dude." Then a long pause followed by,
"Nuttin. Just chillin' at Mickey D's. I think I'm
getting a number two or maybe a number six value meal. I can't
make up my mind. I know I just left, but I wanted to call and
say what's up. All right. I'll see you in a couple
minutes when I get back home."
I'm really happy that the kidnapping ended on a
positive note, but I hope a few politicians heard the story.
Maybe one of them will draft a bill mandating automobile trunks as
the only legal place cell phones can be used while a car is in
motion. |
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