if I keep this up.
Dudette and CK are known for sending me text messages. You know, rather than interrupt me at work, they drop a quick line or two to inform me of happenings of interest, that I can retrieve when I have time. Not a bad deal actually. Dudette and I tend to be fairly conservative with cell phone use, responsible behavior and all that.
On the down side, I get a message, and it asks if I want to reply. Sometimes I do, but then the irritations start. When I go to send the reply, I get a message that the service isn't activated on my phone. And, it tells me to contact the provider. So, late last week, I decided to stop in and chat with the lovely folk that handle our system.
Service Rep (SR): How can I help you?
ME: Dudette and I share the same plan. She can send texts and I can't. It tells me to see you guys. So, either it needs to be turned on, set up, or I'm just too stupid to operate the phone. But, I couldn't find anything in the book about this.
SR (walking over to a computer kiosk, which I assumed he was going to use to get onto their system and turn the phone on and set me up): Let me see your phone for a second. (OK, he needs info from the phone to work his magic)
He flips it open and his thumbs become a blur. (Don't you hate the younger people that can operate those tiny buttons like they were sitting at a full sized keyboard? Yeah, me too.) Than almost as quickly, he closes it. I figure he got the info he needed and was going to hit the computer now.
NEWP. He hands the phone back, reaches over to a phone sitting in front of the computer, flips it open, fiddles with a couple buttons, then shows me a text sent from my phone.
What the hell???
ME: How'dyadothat?
SR: Turned it on.
ME: ?? Excuse me?
SR: It hadn't been turned on in the phone yet. So I turned it on.
ME: If I turn it off will I need some special code to turn it back on?
SR: Nope.
ME: So, show me how to turn it on and off.
SR: Can't.
ME: Why not?
SR: The phone always had the capability for text. But the "activate" default is "off" until you turn it on. So, now it's on. There is no "on" or "off". It's "activate" or not. Depends if you have the service is all.
ME: OK. Guess it was the third option that did me in.
Reminds me of an old Cheech and Chong bit. Cheech shows up and asks Chong what he's doing, "Watching TV."
Cheech: So what's wrong with the TV?
Chong: Dunno, Man. Been like that all day.
Cheech: Mind if I take a look at it?
Chong: No man, go ahead.
*CLICK* (announcers voice) "And now back to our movie! Zorro! Starring John Wayne!"
Chong: FAR OUT, Man! What'd you do?
Cheech: (nonchalantly) Turned it on.
Life imitates art.
DUH happens.
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