Phones and Communication - How It Has Changed (and Continues To Change)

DH and I had a rather nice true Anniversary day (Mondays, being a work day with other errands does not make for a romantic day). We dropped his truck off for a six-month checkup in the early morning, then drove to work. After work we picked up the truck, decided that I would pick up Chipotle for dinner, and then, shortly afterward, the drama began. 

We usually get Chipotle burrito bowls. I've been getting 
him beef and myself chicken forever, but suddenly he's 
now decided that he's supposed to get chicken too. *sigh* 
I wish he had informed me. I'll have to remember to ask him 
what meat he wants before I get it again. 

I was in line at Chipotle, picking out exactly what I wanted for my two portions, when my cell phone rang. Now, it's noisy at the restaurant, and even though I have the phone's volume at max, I'm barely hearing him. After some obviously incorrect answers to questions and a complete inability of me to hear him at all. I told him I'd phone him back after I was out of the restaurant. For some odd reason he was at the shop, and I was thinking maybe the alarm went off or something. 

It's rather remarkable how dependent we've all become 
on our cell phones. I've had a cell for MA NY years. 
I was traveling and also attending various bead 
shows, and I had to be accessible to my staff at the 
various stores I had. A cell phone was a necessity then, 
and it's still necessary now. I love my Google phone. 
Chickie and DH have Samsung phones and they're 
pretty happy with them, too. 

I got out into the parking lot, called him back, only to find out that apparently he was missing his cell phone and had driven back to the shop to see if maybe he had forgotten it there. No luck. So, I called his cell phone and it was ringing - from somewhere in my car. After a serious search (black phone, black upholstery and framework of my car), I finally found it almost buried in the flooring between his seat and the door frame. I called him back at the shop and told him. He was EXTREMELY relieved. Telling him I'd meet him at home, I headed back with the food while he went North towards home from the shop. 

It would have actually been fairly easy to find if it had 
dropped onto the car floor, or onto the left passenger side. 
But no, it was on the right passenger side, and wedged into 
a small space between the door and the seat. He's lucky 
it wasn't damaged in any way, and also wasn't lying 
on the tarmac at the car dealership. 

Apparently, since I don't have two holders in my car (I really don't need two holders, and my cup holders were filled with my travel mug and his travel mug), he had placed the phone between his legs. That only worked until he came into the Toyota dealership with me, to pay for the truck and retrieve my key (I used my key since getting his off his group of keys would have been a total PITA). He must have let the phone slide when he was getting out of the car. He was damned lucky it wasn't lying on the tarmac at the dealership. 

DH used to have a "portable" phone similar to this one 
for his car. He'd be on buying trips for the store, but he also 
needed to be available for consultation if we got an 
emergency issue cropping up with his own business. This 
truly was a brick - we could have seriously damaged 
someone's home if we had tossed it at a window. LOL

It's funny how attached we've gotten to our cell phones. And I'm including you, dear reader, in that large "we". I've had a portable phone for as long as they were available because I love technology. DH even had one of the very old traveling sat phones because he needed to be on call for an AOG (aircraft on ground) situation that might need one of his parts to get back into the air. So we've embraced portable phones for a long time. But we use them more to play games on, than to actually communicate. Still, I'd hate to go back to the old situation before cell phones, when we were all tied to physical, wired telephones. 

Getting everyone scheduled between my new VOIP carrier 
and my security alarm people will be like managing a 
dog and pony show. *sigh* With Chickie being on vacation 
next week, I'm not scheduling anyone until after she's 
back at the shop so that I have someone who can be on the 
sales floor while I'm busy overseeing the switch-over. 

And speaking of phones, my new VOIP phones were delivered to the shop yesterday. Now to get everyone scheduled so that we can get these installed. I think I'll have to wait for the actual switch over until Chickie is back from her vacation. I'll need someone dependable on the sales floor, and I also suspect it will take a bit to coordinate the install people from both the phone company and my security alarm company. I'll start working on that scheduling today. *sigh* Oh joy! LOLOL. Have an excellent Tuesday. I'm off to swim. I survived this week's vote and am still writing, just got my new topic last night. "Synesthesia". Time to do a little research and see what I can come up with. Slava Ukraini.