A few years ago we were at my brother in law's for Thanksgiving. His wife's niece had just had a baby girl and all the husband's relatives had flown in to see the baby. The conversation turned to the relatives and their elderly parents. One thing was universal, voicemail.
Old folks don't understand voicemail. They "dial" a number and hear their son or daughter's voice and they start talking. They don't understand the concept of voicemail. They think they have their son or daughter on the line and they expect to start having a conversation.
The voicemail says, "Hello, you have reached..." As soon as the elder hears "Hello," they start to talk to who they think is an actual person, then, they are rudely interrupted by, "you have reached." They keep talking saying, "Hello?" "Hello?" and the voice keeps going on saying, "Leave me a message at the tone." The elder hears a beep tone, is confused, and keeps saying, "Hello?" "Hello?"
Then, they swear into the phone saying, "Who the #$%&@ is this and why the #$%&@ aren't you answering me?" Then they get angry and slam the phone down on the cradle thinking they have just been totally ignored and rejected by their offspring. If you have these problems with your parents/grandparents, you are not alone. If not, consider yourself lucky.
If any of you want to comment on this post, let me know if you have similar experiences.
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2 comments:
I haven't had that experience per sa, but I have had the experience of being the one caught. I have lived in a world of voicemail for many years. I get it. But my son left this voice message for callers on his phone one time where he started with, "Hey....(long pause)...I'm busy leave a message." I would fall for it all the time. I thought he was actually answering the phone. It would make me mad at myself for getting caught once again!
I love how you talk about the "elders." Keep talking about them, they are funny.
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