RRN Online Volume 345

January 11 '03

Volume 345

Cellular Independence Handling The Aggravation

Corporations have always Stress Reducer sought profitability by expense control. I intend that statement in a general sense and recognize exceptions occur. I didn't major in economics and am not an accounting or business major, but I think it fair to say that anything that costs a company money is an expense. I have observed with more than a little dismay how my employer has continually shifted expenses to the employee. Most of such occurrences relate to benefits, not the least of which is health insurance. The ever rising costs of health insurance reflects the ever rising costs of services by health providers and the costs of prescription drugs have given corporations an excuse to require employees to pay a larger share of their insurance.

Once upon a time, Supervalu reimbursed salaried employees for all meal expenses when traveling out of town. Over the years, allowances were reviewed and new policies were adopted. Right now, Supervalu does not pay for lunches, even if the employee spends a night away from home. The single exception to this rule allows reimbursement if the lunch involves a business purpose with a client.

When a corporation gets persnickety over the personal use of corporately expensed cell phones, one realizes the company is serious about controlling expenses, especially when said company requires its employees to share the costs by paying for all personal minutes incurred. Supervalu recently changed policy with regard to personal use of cell phones. Heretofore, those of us in the Southeast Region were billed 10% of the total monthly phone expense to cover personal use of the cell phone. Since cell phone expense is largely based upon a flat monthly rate assigned to a plan allotting a given number of minutes to the user, it never seemed fair to me that an employee should pay a portion of the bill, unless usage exceeded the monthly limit.

I almost purchased a cellular phone for personal use three years ago when Supervalu imposed the 10% charge but eventually considered a personal phone unjustifiable on a cost basis. However, last November, Supervalu formulated a more profitable scheme to reduce expenses.

The new plan required employees to total all personal-use minutes, calculate the percentage of personal minutes to total minutes, apply the percentage to the total monthly bill, and reduce the bill by the amount computed for personal use. Thus a phone rate plan having 1000 minutes allotted and a monthly fee of $100.00 might cost an employee more one month than another, even if the employee had the same number of minutes of personal use in each month.

In the preceding example, an employee whose personal minutes were 100 and reached a monthly total of 1000 minutes, then the employee would pay 10% of the bill or $10.00. However if the employee's total minutes for the month were 500 then his 100 minutes of personal use would constitute 20% of the total bill and the employee would be responsible for $20.00. Still worse would be a case in which half the total minutes used were personal minutes, then the employee would pay half the monthly bill or $50.00

I am confident that I would never use enough personal minutes to justify a personal phone. However, as I considered all the aggravation of mulling over five or six hundred calls per month and adding up the personal minutes, etc., I decided the aggravation factor was sufficient to pursue cellular independence. In early December, I told family members that Santa or some benevolent person might want to consider giving me a cell phone for personal use and explained to them my reasons for wanting a cell phone.

I don't know if Santa got the message, but Barbara chose to give me a new phone as her Christmas present to me. I later asked her why she chose a Sony Ericsson model rather than a Nokia, since my business phone is Nokia and accessories such as chargers, hands-free devices, etc. would be interchangeable.

"They (Cingular salesperson) just showed me the Ericsson," she allowed.

I am well pleased with the features of the new phone and will strive to get along without all the phone accessories I now require when traveling. But, there may come a day when I need the hands-free accessory…say around Father's Day.

Cellular Users Technology And Manners

The number of cell phone users in the United States has risen to more than 120 million, which is roughly triple the number of users five years ago. Even a casual observer has likely noticed a rise in cell phone usage. One sees the devices being used everywhere—in restaurants, in business meetings, and by shoppers and pedestrians—but automobiles seem to be the favorite place for most users.

In the past, I've known my wife to leave the house or office, get into her car, and pick up her cell phone to make a call, with me wondering all the time why she could not have made the call at home or work. It's true that I have done the same thing, but with far less regularity than Barbara. Her actions were particularly bothersome to me in the days when monthly plans did not include generous "call time" and users paid thirty-five cents per minute (or more) for each call in addition to the monthly base fee.

That was when car phones were the rage, but now that mobile phones are no longer harnessed to automobiles and are indeed portable, it seems everyone has a cell phone. Adults have them, and so do their children. A few of us have decided we need more than one, and why not? After all, we've had more than one phone line at home for years, one for conversations and one for communications.

Cell phones and computers are undergoing continual change, and the advent of "cell-puters" or "comp-phones," handheld devices capable of performing both as a phone and a computer, is closer than we realize. Already, some cell phones are capable of accessing the Internet.

How we'll incorporate all the new technology into our daily lives remains to be seen, but already our routines and expectations have been realigned due to cell phones. Those of us with company supplied cell phones are virtually on call twenty-four hours a day, and even when on vacation are expected to check messages daily.

I remember when going to lunch was a reprieve from answering the phone in the office, a time to relax and enjoy a meal away from work. I still think that's the way it should be. I make it a habit of turning off my cell phone when I go to lunch, but from what I've observed there are not many folks who do. By my count, I've taken one call on my cell phone while eating lunch, and I would not have answered it if I had thought in time, and had I remembered to turn the dang thing off it would not have rung.

When it comes to talking on a cell phone and driving an automobile at the same time, I have mixed thoughts. While I can do both at the same time, I'm not very good at it in heavy traffic, but then I was never very good at using one hand to paddle a misbehaving son or daughter in the back seat while driving with the other hand. I recognize my limitations while driving and talking on a phone and usually have the good sense to move into a slow lane or pull off onto the shoulder of the road to avoid becoming a highway menace.

The politically correct term for not paying attention while driving is "distracted driving." As state legislators consider legislation to restrict cell phone usage by drivers, they need also consider other equally dangerous forms of "distracted driving," such as applying lipstick, eye shadow, or makeup, or other cosmetic improvements by the fairer sex, reading, writing notes, shaving, dressing, arguing with a passenger, dental flossing, nose picking, etc. It's a long list, but no distraction should be removed from consideration, if the lawmakers want to be fair.

I've listened to enough one-sided phone conversations in restaurants to be in favor of banning cell phone usage wherever food is served to the public. At the very least, there should be a No Phones section like the present No Smoking areas.

For some reason, some folks feel compelled to carry on a conversation while using the restroom. I've a phone in my bathroom, but it doesn't get answered if sounds associated with a commode are discernable. I'm certainly not going to receive or make a call on my cell phone when engaged in something as personal as using the bathroom. My opinions not withstanding, a recent survey indicated that rest room use of cell phones was acceptable by 47% of those questioned.

It took Internet users a long time to learn proper etiquette with respect to email messages and it will take cell phone users a while to learn the dos and don’ts of phone etiquette. Here's a list, found on the Internet, that's a good start:

Don'ts

Never take a personal mobile call during a business meeting.
Maintain at least a 10-foot zone from anyone while talking.
Never talk in elevators, libraries, museums, restaurants, theaters, medical waiting rooms, places of worship, auditoriums or other enclosed public places.
Don't use loud and annoying ring tones.
Never "multi-task" by making calls while shopping, banking, waiting in line or conducting other personal business.

Dos

Keep phone conversations brief and to the point.
Use an earpiece so you can modulate your voice.
Tell callers you're on a cell phone and where you are so they can anticipate distractions or disconnection.
Demand "phone-free" areas at work and in public venues.
Let other cellular users know you've adopted the new rules for mobile manners.

It took seeing the "Do" list for me to remember something I've observed with respect to people talking on a cellular phone. Have you noticed that most folks speak louder than normal on a cell phone? I have, and I'm sorry to say I've been guilty of doing so myself. I'm not sure why that is, but it seems if we can't hear the other person very well, we feel that by talking louder they will hear us better. It's the same principle used in talking to a speech-impaired person or someone who speaks a different language…talk louder. It doesn't help, but we do it anyway.

I also just figured out why so many folks wait to talk on a phone in their car or find it acceptable to talk on a cell phone in the bathroom. If one adopts the dos and don'ts above, there's not many other places left to talk on a cell phone.

I won't give up on folks learning cell phone etiquette, just yet, because I'm still learning. One thing is for certain, cell phones and the next generation of personal communication devices will be around for a long time.

Habitat Fellow Houseguest 218 Dogwood Cir

A conversational topic on which both Barbara and I have had opportunity to expound has been, "Who was that young man that sat by you in church last Sunday?"

The young man is Joshua O' Grady, who hails from South Carolina and is attending Sterling College in Kansas, where he is enrolled in the Habitat For Humanity Fellows Program. Sterling College is the only institution of higher learning in the United States that offers such a program in cooperation with Habit for Humanity, International.

Joshua is staying at our house, as he pursues a few hours of college credit by working for the Pontotoc Chapter of Habitat for Humanity between semesters at Sterling College. Joshua will be here approximately six weeks. In that time I expect he'll get to know more about the Carters than he really wants to know.

Josh, as he allows himself to be called, has already won the hearts of several Pontotocians with his pleasing smile and polite demeanor and has proven himself a considerate houseguest. I am unable to say a great deal more about him at this writing, largely because I see him mostly in the evenings, but he strikes me as a thinker and definitely someone who doesn't shrink from the physical labor.

Josh has already spent several Habitat workdays with Brother Joe Steen, Habitat's indefatigable construction foreman. Additionally, Barbara has involved Josh in some of the functions of her office, and he has attended at least one Habitat committee meeting. He has shown an interest in getting to work with various other committees in the short time he will be in Pontotoc.

As you folks around here who follow this newsletter encounter Joshua O' Grady, I encourage you to introduce yourselves. If we like him, you're bound to as well.

Bodock Beau Blondes And Cats

Blonds or blondes get more than their fair share of attention. Much of that attention is focused on beauty, but because a disproportionate number of them are also intellectually challenged, blondes are often portrayed as "dumb."

Sooooooooooooooo Blonde

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde ...

She thought a quarterback was a refund.
She thought General Motors was in the army.
She thought Meow Mix was a CD for cats.
She thought Boyz II Men was a day care center.
At the bottom of an application where it says "Sign here:" she wrote "Sagittarius.".

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde ...

She took the ruler to bed to see how long she slept.
She sent a fax with a stamp on it.
She thought Eartha Kitt was a set of garden tools.
She thought TuPac Shakur was a Jewish holiday.
Under "education" on her job application, she put "Hooked On Phonics."

She was Soooooooooooooo Blonde ...

She tripped over a cordless phone.
She spent 20 minutes looking at the orange juice can because it said, "Concentrate."
She told me to meet her at the corner of "WALK" and "DON'T WALK."
She asked for a price check at the Dollar Store.
She tried to put M&M's in alphabetical order.

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde ...

She studied for a blood test.
She thought she needed a ticket to get on "Soul Train."
She sold the car for gas money.
When she missed bus #44 she took bus #22 twice instead.
When she went to the airport and saw a sign that read, "Airport Left," she turned around and went home.

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde ...

When she heard that 90% of all crimes occur around the home, she moved.
She thinks Taco Bell is the Mexican phone company.
She thought if she spoke her mind, she'd be speechless.
She thought that she could not use her AM radio in the evening.
She had a shirt that said "TGIF," which she thought stood for "This Goes In Front."
Submitted by Billie Jean Sewell

The Cat's Saucer

A famous art collector is walking through the city when he notices a mangy cat lapping milk from a saucer in the doorway of a store and he does a double take. He knows that the saucer is extremely old and very valuable, so he walks casually into the store and offers to buy the cat for two dollars.

The storeowner replies "I'm sorry, but the cat isn't for sale.

The collector says "Please, I need a hungry cat around the house to catch mice. I'll pay you twenty dollars for that cat."

And the owner says "Sold," and hands over the cat.

The collector continues, "Hey, for the twenty bucks I wonder if you could throw in that old saucer. The cat's used to it, and it'll save me from having to get a dish."

And the owner says, "Sorry buddy, but that's my lucky saucer. So far this week I've sold sixty-eight cats."

Submitted by Larry Young

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