It Used to Give Me Peace of Mind…
Now, the bill is causing an ulcer.Taken February 17, 2008 with Canon PowerShot A550
It’s hard
to
tell if
her phone is
ringing, or
if the stereo
is set to Auto-On.As a former “Smother Mother”, placing a cell phone in my daughter’s hands relieved some of the “she will surely be kidnapped/assaulted/raped/arrested or otherwise end up in a body-bag if I let her out of my sight” symptoms. Surprisingly quickly, actually.
Now, as long as she answers the damned thing when I call, I don’t worry much. She may be beyond her boundaries, or past her curfew, but she’s alive, at least.
Just having a cell phone at all was enough for her for a short while. Until she got into text-messaging, and added 20-40 bucks to the bill every month. My previous provider had no intention of giving me a break or a deal on text-messaging until I canceled my account and signed a three-year contract with the current one for the free, unlimited text plan they had - a little late for the other guys to win me back.
The new plan is a little more expensive, but it saved me a lot on the messaging. For a month or so. Now, she can’t be bothered with texting. At. All.
Nope, now it’s ringtones she’s into.
My phone just rings - you know, “Riiiiiiiiiiiing! Riiiiiiiiiiiing!” Like a phone.
Hers rings and it sounds like a party started. If I’m sleeping, it scares the crap out of me. Yes, apparently Everybody Else’s parents allow phone calls at 2 am. Everybody Else’s parents are starting to tick me off.
The ringtone changes every half-hour, as well. It’s hard to tell if someone’s calling, or if the stereo is set to Auto-On.
So now I have that bill to worry over again, because of all the downloading going on. I could pay another $20 a month for the unlimited internet package, but how much do the freaking files cost?!
Yes, it’s possible to get free ringtones. Now, I have to convince her that the free ones are as good as the not-free ones, I guess. And are “Hip-Hop Ringtones” the same as “Dance Ringtones”, because apparently, she doesn’t want either one of them. When I ask what she does want, she kind of shrugs.
I think she only wants whatever I don’t know she’s managing to get. Until the bill comes in, that is.
If I had any sense, I’d just quit complaining altogether, and in a month or so she’d quit downloading ringtones. Where’s the fun if it doesn’t cost Mom money, after all? I’m afraid of what might come next, though.
Does anybody out there know what comes next?
What comes next?!
Random Song for the Day: “Choked Up” - Minibar
On this date in a whole nother year, I wrote...
- Bridge to Terabithia - 2007
- Redesigning... - 2007
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February 18th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
It Used to Give Me Peace of Mind…
A teenager with a cellphone = a desperate mother searching for any possible way to save money on the bill……
February 18th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Boy, I don’t know what comes after ringtones. Games, maybe? Fortunately, my kids are still satisfied with about thirty million text messages every day. I’m the one in our family with the ringtone habit, I’m afraid.
Les Says: Oh jeez. The Flight of the Conchords every time the phone rings.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Ringtones? What are these ringtones you speak of? Living in the dinosaur age over here. My 7-year-old WANTS a cell phone. Yaeh, can you believe that? She also wants an mp3 player.
Never gonna get it, never gonna get it, never gonna get it (remember that song by En vogue?)
What’s with your site?
Les Says: My site is wonky. I don’t know. I think all those “Back-End Boys” are playing with things they should not play with…
February 19th, 2008 at 8:07 am
What comes next, you ask? A “cooler” and much more expensive phone, of course…
Les Says: Well, that at least, she can’t do on her own and surprise me with it. Yet. I hope.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I haven’t yet had to deal with this. But, maybe you could foot the basic bill and anything above and beyond she would have to pay for out of her own money??? I know when I called long distance in the time before cell phones that’s what my parents did. And let me tell you, that 11 extra dollars a month was enough to make me keep it brief.
Les Says: That would probably work if she had her own money…
My mom suggested just taking away the cellphone, but then “Smother Mother” would return, and that takes up too much energy, time, and sane brain function disappears altogether.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Games are next.
Not because the kid got them… I’m referring to myself. I did the ringtones (I did use free ones, though, and there are a lot of good free ones out there if you figure out to manipulate the phone), then I was all about the texting, and now I am the only 35 year old I know of with Guitar Hero on my phone.
My mom pays my bill so she always knows where I am, too, so I guess it’s not that different.
Les Says: Will your mom pay my bill…?! Hope springs eternal…
February 19th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I know what comes next- I’ve been there! You end up getting a prescription for the little purple heartburn pill and a second job to pay the astronomical bill that’s headed your way. I have phones for two of my daughters on my plan…
Les Says: I’m still working on the first job… but the little purple pill idea sounds nice.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Ack. Do not know what is next, but I’m furiously scribbling copious notes on the what might be coming up horizon based on you, Suzi and my 3D friends who had the sense to have children at a decent age. Tell her I have Spider Pig if she’d like me to send it to her. (yes, my phone rings to Spider Pig. Usually in the middle of some solemnity or another.) It used to be Time Warp from Rocky Horror.
Les Says: Rocky Horror is haunting me. I watched it the other day, and then it was on “Cold Case” the other night, and now you. “Let’s do the Time Warp again….” Yeah, I need a time warp.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
So far we’ve been lucky in this regard. The lad had a cell phone a couple of years ago on a pay-as-you-go plan but he didn’t use it much and now it’s a paper weight. As for the princess she wants a phone but we haven’t given her one yet. I expect another couple of years and she’ll start giving us serious grief about it
Les Says: A couple more years, OldGuy, and you won’t let her leave the house without one…
February 26th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Heh, good one… where the walls are soft! anyway, I spent a fair bit of time in the UK, and their mobile phone system is far superior to ours in the US. At first it seemed weird, but after you get used to it, you understand why it is superior.
You can get a “Pay-as-you-go” phone and the way it works is that only the caller pays. Now, when you make a call, the price is double, but the recipient of a call doesn’t need any credit on their phone to recieve it -and your credit doesn’t expire for at least 6 -or in some cases 12 months!
I think some of the companies are getting around to that here. and I just have to say “It’s about time!”
Nice site btw. found it through entrecard
Les Says: We’ve had Pay-as-you-go in Canada for some years now (thought it was also available in the US, no?) but minutes come off no matter who calls, unless the call comes from another Pay-go phone. They’ve only recently come out with the 6-12 months expiry options, though.
Thanks for the visit, Paddy! Come back often!
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Tell her to get job! That way she can pay for her own phone bill and yours!
And if she’s too young tell her to get a contact on a lemon stand! Kids are growing up faster apparently . . . why not lower the legal working age?
Les Says: She’s been BEGGING me to get the form sent in that will allow her to work legally. I finally picked up the form, and promptly lost it. I think I’m worse than she is.