Okay. I am stubborn at times. No, no, it is true. I can get quite set in my ways, whether you can comprehend that or not.
My cell phone is one I like. I don’t need to change it. It is old and antiquated by cell phone status. I can take nice pictures with my phone if the light is right. More importantly, I can keep a call easily…more antennae power…than many phones that purport to be “smarter”. If you ask me, Smart Phones don’t seem too smart if they can’t hold a call.
This evening, however, I entered a realm that put a stigma on me. The but…”he doesn’t have a smart phone”… was tested today.
I am away from home for a few days. I am attending a conference. I am staying in a nice hotel that I don’t have to pay for. I suppose I should not complain. But…that is not the problem. The problem is that my dear wife, Carrie, could not make the trip. Obligations with her own job did not allow her to take the time to follow me up here. I miss her…terribly. We don’t like to be apart. I did not want to tell her goodbye this afternoon before I drove up.
When it was time for dinner tonight, I ordered take out from a place we have eaten at before up here in Indy. Carrie and I have eaten at this place a few times. I figured I would get a salad and a sandwich and bring it across the road to my room and eat while I watch “Fraiser” on Netflicks.
When my food receipt was being paid for, the young lady ringing up my order showed me that I had a $10 coupon coming to me in the next two days if I complete an online survey. What do I need to present, I asked? She asked if I could bring in a printed confirmation of the survey. I told her I had no way to print one. She asked if I had a cell phone I could show them to prove I did the survey. I told her my phone was too dumb to do that. She consulted with her manager.
Know this, I did not ask the manager to be summoned. The young lady taking care of my order took that initiative.
The manager came over to me. He asked if I had a smart phone. I told him my phone was dumb…and I had no plans to bring my unwieldy laptop across the road to show him a confirmation of a survey that I would take.
Truth: I didn’t care. I don’t care.
Still, I felt like I was in the midst of the great communication chasm that takes to many of us. I hear folks talk about computer/phone/music apparatus…is apparati the plural form? Stuff that I have no idea what they are talking about. And I don’t care. I just don’t care. After all, no one can keep up with all of it. I’m not going to try. I am going to keep calling my Mom on my way home from work. I am going to take a picture with my phone when I can. I will use my phone’s calculator feature when I need to do any serious multiplying.
Was I a victim today because I didn’t have a smart enough phone? I don’t think so. I was better off. I would have only got another bar-b-q sandwich again with my discount when one a week is more than enough. My dumb phone helped me out. So there.
Speaking the rights.
Danny Johnson