So my friend, who lives with his brother, called me yesterday on his way to work (he works second shift) telling me he felt like he had already put in a full day and he only got four hours of sleep. His brother woke him up telling him he couldn’t get his car started and he needed to get to work.
Of course I asked where he had to go to help his brother. The answer?
The driveway. I burst out laughing so hard! I couldn’t believe it.
His brother was calling from the driveway. The driveway. How lazy is that to call from the driveway? My friend told me they do that to each other all of the time. Once when my friend was working on his own truck and he needed a screwdriver he called his brother on the cell to bring it out to him.
I told my friend that if he was working on my vehicle in my driveway and he called me from the cell phone, that would be a sure way to get my attention in a very negative way. If a person is too lazy to walk over to the window or door to talk to me but instead called me from their cellphone, I’m afraid that phone would end up in the lake (bionic power would take over in my arm to be able to hurl it that far).
Canandaigua Lake (for Mon@rch, to show you a bit of what you’re missing today).
Now, I will admit, I have called someone from outside the house, once. I visited my parents in the summertime and their screen door was locked. I have keys for all of their doors, but I didn’t have the key for that. So I used the cell phone to let them know I was there.
How about you, have you, or would you ever call someone inside a house from their driveway? Or do you have some other similar cellphone story?
March 10, 2007 at 9:37 am
We have a set of room assigned cordless phone that allow us to call a specific phone in a certain room, ie: kitchen, Molly’s room, John’s room, our room. I guess they work sort of like walkie-talkies. I have to admit we use them alot. I have a very hard time raising my voice (really- it doesn’t get loud!) and I hate to shriek. The kids will always answer a phone!
March 10, 2007 at 10:07 am
I would have to guess the lake would be frozen this time of the year! But, it is very nice! I have done this with the cell phone! Just as I am about to leave somewhere and forgot to tell someone something! Ect… it is the day with cell phones!
March 10, 2007 at 11:19 am
I haven’t cellphoned my husband from the house or driveway. I have cellphoned my parents from their driveway but that was when I had two small children sleeping in the car and didn’t want to leave one asleep in the condo parking lot while I carried one in and then came back to get the other one.
That said, my husband and I email each other all the time. He works at home and is there all the time. Sometimes I want to get him a message in a way I know he’ll receive and remember so I’ll email it to him. Heck, sometimes I email myself — from work, for example, to remember to do something when I get home.
It’s a modern age and things are changing.
March 10, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Lynne - now that’s a good idea! I’ve been in the basement before and needed someone who is on the second floor, and have had to trudge up the stairs just to ask a question and trudge back down. So those phones would come in handy big time! I have a quiet voice, too, and I don’t like to yell because nobody can hear me anyway!
Mon@rch - it’s a very pretty area if you ever do get to make it up there! Oh yeah, I can see that with the cell phone - calling if you’ve forgotten to say something - I’ve done that, too! But I still don’t like phones in the first place.
Liza - That’s a good use of a cell phone from the driveway so you’re not leaving one of your kids alone. I *love* email and instant messaging, too! I’ve been known to email myself info especially when working between computers at work.
March 10, 2007 at 2:16 pm
First: I love the new look! It’s gentle and quiet, yet quite flavorful. Very nice. (I’m afraid I forgot to say something before now. Yes, I can sometimes be absentminded.)
Second: No, I’ve never called anyone like that. Like you, I think it’s terribly lazy. Being locked out is one thing; being unwilling to take a few steps is another matter entirely. I feel the same: It would get my attention in all the wrong ways.
March 10, 2007 at 2:23 pm
My daughters use Messenger to talk to me from the downstairs to the upstairs of the house rather than yelling, “Mom, when is dinner going to be ready?”
I always carry a cell phone when doing my home visits. On Thursday I phoned a lady from her front door because she did not answer the doorbell. She had just returned from hospital after having a bad fall. It turned out she was asleep and had forgotten my appointment. I never leave without making sure my elderly patients are OK.
And yes, we use the cell phone from driveway to house. Especially if it is freezing cold or raining. “I forgot to ask you to pick up_____when you are out!”
Modern technology can be intrusive, but it can be useful.
March 10, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Thanks Jason! I know you’ve been busy making your blog look really nice, too! Glad it isn’t just me who thinks it’s a bit lazy!
March 10, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Ruth - I agree, cell phones are great for things you mention! I carry mine around with me all of the time, especially when on the road by myself. And I love messenger - but have never used with a person inside my house - I suppose I probably will someday!
March 10, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Well, I still don’t have a cell phone, believe it or not! (read in Jack Palance voice). That may change soon though as I am heading to NYC by my lonesome for a trip.
I have to say though, yes it’s lazy, but it beats the guy next door to me whose visitors honk horns for HOURS rather than go knock on the door or CALL at least. Anyway, don’t mean to vent but urban living can get to me sometimes. Not enough birds and too many car horns.
To me the worst is when you see two people on a date and one is on the phone the whole time. It’s like we’re in a world of people dating their phones.
March 10, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Hi Jennimi - Thanks for your comment! I wouldn’t have a cell phone yet either except my Dad got it for me, so I went along with it and didn’t use it for a long time - just carried it around just in case. I still don’t use it except to talk to my friends who are on the same service (the whole “in the family thing” so we don’t get charged).
Oh yeah, knocking or calling on the cell would be a good thing to do instead of honking the horn at all hours of the night! I soooo don’t get that. My neighbors’ friends do that sometimes, too.
I also don’t get the importance of being on the cell phone especially when out with another person. That and those blackberry things. I hate being anywhere and having to listen to one side of a conversation that I could care less about. People at the gym exercise with them, too. I don’t get that. I like to concentrate on my workout and it’s “me” time!
March 10, 2007 at 7:26 pm
No I don’t think that’s lazy at all . That is someone using their head, instead of just using it as a hat rack. I see it has helped other people too. So your friend is not lazy, just using his brain. Good for him.
March 10, 2007 at 11:31 pm
I have used my cell to call Geoff to come out and get one of the girls, late at night, when they have fallen asleep and I don’t want to leave one of them out there in the dark. But most of the time, Nellie lets him know I am out there.
But I would never CALL him to bring me something, when I have two perfectly good legs to carry myself in there and get it myself!
March 11, 2007 at 9:13 am
Jim - you have a good point about my “friend.” He and his brother certainly aren’t lazy, are they! Not with all of the hours they work. Remember, if you call me from the driveway for that portabella sandwich and fries, you know we’ll end up at Jines!
Susan - Now that’s a great use of the cell phone from the driveway story!
March 11, 2007 at 9:13 am
Never. I sometimes forget I have a cell phone. I don’t like phones but I know we need them. Last week, someone in the office called someone else in the office (three doors down the hall) and I remember thinking, “what a lazy ass”. Same with e-mailing in the office. What’s wrong with getting off your butt and taking a little walk for an actual, face to face conversation like in the good old days?
March 11, 2007 at 9:17 am
Mary - you’ve stated exactly how I feel! I hate the phone with a passion (land-line and cell) because I can’t see a person’s face and I *need* to see facial and body expressions when I talk to someone. And emails, at work especially, can be misinterpreted bad enough to start a world war.
Nothing like a good ole face-to-face, except when the person I’m facing can’t shut up.
March 19, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Our downstairs tenant called us from the backyard last year. It was a misty Spring midnight. There was a spotted salamander outside her door, and she was too terrified to step over it, she wanted us to come down and remove the monster. She was amazed when we were so excited to see it! We picked it up bare-handed, gave it a good talking to, admired its handsome spots, and nudged it off towards the woods.
p.s. lovely new template. It makes me long for tulips!
March 19, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Hi Kathie! That’s a really cool story! It must have freaked her out to see you picking it up! Thanks - these are the tulips I saw at the George Eastman house in the conservatory. The smell of the flowers was wonderful!