When I was working in the salon at home I could never get away from the phone. I used the same number for the salon as the home phone. I finally got smart and looked to see who was calling in the evenings and would let the answering machine get the call if it was a customer.
When the small cell phones started to be available my husband wanted to know if I wanted one to take with me so the customers could get in touch with me when I was away from the shop and house.
My answer to him then was a resounding: NOOOO!! I told him when I left the house and the shop I didn’t want anyone to be able to find me. When I left the shop and the house that was my time not answer a phone.
So the 15 years I had the beauty shop at the house I never had a cell phone, and no intentions of ever getting one. I didn’t like to be tied to the phone. So when I went to work at Wesley Towers I had a rude awakening coming.
I was hired to be the right hand person for the Activity Director, but the main part of my job was to drive the residents in the independent living high-rise and duplexes to their dr. appointments.
The first day of my job at the Towers was one of my driving days. I arrived before 8:00 a.m. and clocked in. I put my purse in the activity room office and went back down to the front desk to get the car keys and the driving list for the day.
I got them and went back to the office to talk to the director until time for me take the first person out to the Clinic. I got a call shortly after I sat down in the office; Toni wanted me to run an errand. I went back to the front desk to find out what she needed me to do.
Toni has been at the Towers for a long time and is in charge of the front desk and all the phones and taking calls and rerouting them to the right office. She also takes calls for maintenance and makes sure the guys get the work done for the residents.
Toni told me when I arrived at the desk what she needed me to do and I told her I would do that because I had time before the first resident was to go out for her appointment. As I turned and stepped towards the double sliding doors, she yelled at me again.
“Wait a minute where do you think you are going?” As she asked me that she laid a flip phone on the desk and said to me, “You need to take this cell phone with you, it is for the drivers.” I looked at it with disgust and said to her, “I don’t like cell phones and I don’t want to take it!”
She shoved the phone across the top of the desk and said, “You need to carry this phone so I can get in touch with you when I need to!” I told her again, “I hate cell phones and I don’t want to carry it!”
Again she said, “You WILL carry it so we can get in touch with you when a resident needs to be picked up and brought back to the Towers!”
I looked at the phone with disgust as I swiped it off the desk and headed out the door. I did not put it in the pocket on my slacks but threw it down in the cup holder of the Honda next to my glass of iced tea I was carrying along with me.
I left the parking space under the portico at the front door and headed for Monroe to run the errand. When I arrived at the stop sign at Monroe, just two blocks from the front door of the Towers, my nemesis started to ring. I thought about not answering it for a few rings.
There were no residents at the doctor at that time and the first one was not ready to leave so who but Toni would be calling me? I knew with her calling me she was testing me to see if I would answer it.
I grabbed it up and flipped it open and shouted “WHAT!!?? Toni started to laugh and in between bursts of laughter she said: “Boy you really don’t like cell phones do you?” I asked her, “What do you want Toni!?” She just kept laughing and I told her; “Don’t call me again!”
That has been a tale that the both of us have told over the years. I did get used to the phone, though I never really liked it. But then they got a new one and it could be programmed to call the desk or any of the staff by voice command, I did like that.
Then, the last one they had I didn’t even have to pick it up, it had a blue tooth I wore in my ear and that made it a lot easier to just touch the ear piece and tell it to call or to hang it up and also to take a call. I got to where I didn’t mind the cell phone in my ear.
But I never told Toni that I didn’t mind the last one I used before I retired, even though she could still find me no matter how hard I tried. I could run but I couldn’t hide from Toni.
I still hate cell phones and half the time I forget to take mine with when I leave the house. Yes, my husband finally talked me into one about a year and half ago. But if I don’t have it with me they still can’t reach me, so that is a good thing. To contact Sandy: [email protected]
