At my suggestion, my son gave us a set of new cordless phones for Christmas. Half of the number segments on our old phone's LCD screen had burned out, so you couldn't tell who was calling on the caller ID, and you certainly couldn't get people's numbers and call them back. Our area code looked like 571, which would be Virginia, where we know no one, so we couldn't even tell if it was a local number. There were a lot of static and interference on the old phone, too. I could somehow hear my toddler in his high chair echoing through the phone better than I could hear the caller.
I like the new phones. Really. Even though the sexy disembodied voice that came with the phone set to announce who is calling doesn't know how to pronounce anyone's name, and her guesses are not even close. The replacement was very much needed.
The thing i didn't know at first is that the new phones don't ring. They play a song. It's not a tune I recognize, so I can't sing along.
This seems to be the new way of the world. No longer do we have buzzers, bells, and beeps, we hear songs. My cell phone plays a song when it rings. My new home phone plays a song when it rings. Even my new dryer plays a song.
The problem is keeping all these songs straight. I don't know words to any of the tunes, or that might help.
The beeps, rings, and buzzes of yesteryear, I would recognize immediately. When you're simply minding your own business and a song starts playing in your vicinity, it can be slightly disorienting.
Imagine. Last night while I was in bed, my dryer was running and I was expecting a call on my home phone, when my cell phone started ringing.
I sat up, stupidly thinking, "I hear music." I jumped out of bed, trying through my sleepiness to analyze the tune I was hearing. It didn't sound like my dryer. It was a minute before I a) realized through the process of elimination that it must be my cell phone, and b) found my cell phone.
I suppose I should try to get used to the idea that inanimate objects all around me will randomly start singing at me. And pray that there's never a time in my future life when every gadget I own is programmed to play the same tune.
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I can relate to your experience about waking up to the phone and having trouble processing what it is. I do like that my cordless phone "song" doesn't wake Sandy up, though, and a regular ring does.
ReplyDeleteThat is too funny! Just don't try to answer your dryer and stuff wet clothes into your phone. Then you'd know you're really disoriented! :)
ReplyDeleteOh, that's great! I've had problems in the store when people have the same ring tone as I do. Picturing everything with it's own identifying song is rather hilarious--info overload.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this experience. When you have 3 cell phones in the home and don't know which one to answer, it seems like I answer more missed calls then actual calls because sometimes I forget to answer when I hear the music.
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