I am not an idiot, but close to it..

I am not an idiot, but close to it..

I have been dealing with my new smart cell phone. I replaced the house phone with it.. and I am staying barely afloat with it..  it has brought out frustration, anger, and testing my self control.

We had a unit that gave us wireless with our home phone.. but Verizon has forced us to replace it.. as they said it was a 3 G.. I thought that was only for cell, but apparently not.  So after holding off as long as I could.. I went down to replace it with a 4 G.. why with all things turning to 5G is beyond me..  and will I have to upgrade again with in a year for a 5G?  They started out with a $125 price tag on the upgrade.. and also a $99.99 activation… charge.. So over $200!!  Well, I waited it out long enough they offered me a FREE (now we all know there is no such thing as free)… unit AND FREE activation fee..   Again.. remember nothing is for free.   So this is where everything went south.  I ordered the new unit.. went down and got it 2 days later..  AND BINGO.. the new unit lights up the whole dang bedroom.. AND IT HAS A BLINKING ALL THE TIME… LIGHT.   No dimmer. I tossed and turned, I just don’t sleep well, with the room lit.

So  I went on line and talked to a Verizon agent… no there is no dimmer light.. no they do not have any other units.  Just this model…  So after about 15 minutes of conversation..  I mention, I would have been better off .. replacing it with a cell phone.  She said that was possible. That she could not do it but the store manager could possibility, offer me a refund towards a cell for  the new unit.   

Off to the store.. very nice young man talked to me about the different options..  without stretching this out more than needed..   I finally decided on a smart phone..  and yes they would let me return the unit WITHOUT the reshelfing fee of $75!   My thoughts were not good .. My one thought was..  I would get the smart phone..  get it down pat and then pass it off to the King who has wanted a smart phone ever since he saw one of our son’s use his.. and it was voice activated. Meaning he did not have to type in words, he could just talk to the phone and it would do what he wanted.. AND print out what he said for texting..  So if I could manage to understand it and teach him.. I would just give him the smart phone and I would take his flip phone for the house.   This sounds so much easier than life…  As it has been a horror show ever since.   Which leads to my lack of self control. with things that I don’t understand.  Some where around 75, my brain soften..

Had my daughter disenabled the email.. as neither of us want that on the phone..   can’t delete as it .. they said that was not advisable.. due to it doing bad things to the cell.. not even going to go there…   Why get rid of the email when I do it all the time on my computer?   Because when I got the phone home.. it immediately downloaded my email contacts and the emails coming in..  I DID NOT ASK FOR THAT.. Which for some reason. mixed those contracts with my phone number contacts.. what a mess that was..  Finally got rid of that.. deleting each contract..  one at a time.. and then putting my phone contracts in…. one at a time…  thankfully I had typed them down…  That took the first two days…

Then the phone.. it was not pretty… I could not open the phone when it rang..  Then my granddaughter did a quick tour of the phone.   So then knew the thumb brushed upward would answer the phone..  and the little orange/red dot on the bottom..  hung it up..  Well, that worked just fine when she was here..  after she left.. that night..  all hell broke loose.  No amount of swiping my thumb up.. worked.  Then it did.  Ok. And I turn it off.. it did it.. but got to tell you the first time.. it didn’t.. and the other person hung up for me.. on their end and so it was hung up.. I HATE THIS CELL PHONE. 

The next day.. with calmer mind.. I looked thru. AND I HAPPEN and don’t ask me how.. but I found the voice mail.  YAHOO, I AM NOT AN IDIOT.  And I was able to put a message on it.. I had the King call the cell phone and sure enough the voice mail worked….I AM NOT AN IDIOT.. well, that did not last long..  I am telling you.. a week of off and on be able to answer the phone has being trying …  My daughter told me to go on line and find a simple tour of the phone.   I did that..  and after repeating many times.. writing down different things I wanted..  I was able to put.. 3 dots at the bottom..  one for return to previous page.. one for home.. and I forgot what the other one did. But I used it ONCE.. that was enough.. but was able to recover with the return button. Whew..   I WAS SO PROUD OF MYSELF..  that did not last long either..  As my daughter called after work.. and I swiped and I pushed answer.. and NOTHING was happening. I finally went in contracts after she hung up… and I pushed her name and call.. and thankfully it worked.

Back to the tour and repeats over and over and writing it down in simple language… But I know I am well over my head.. and the worse of this.. is I can’t use the voice command, as she keeps typing..  I DON’T UNDERSTAND TRY AGAIN!! To the point I told her, she doesn’t understand a f…. king thing.. which she repeated back to me.. much to the joy of the King.  WHO has now decided he wants no part of a smart phone.. 

I am truly thinking of  just getting a flip phone like his.. and use that.. it will do what I want.. I want to be able to make a call..  I want to answer a call… I want to have a voice mail to take the messages when we are not around it…  I want the camera.. and I can learn to text..   THAT IS IT..   but I hate giving up..  So I promised myself..  I would try one more week.. and if it doesn’t get better..  then the flip phone will be in my future..

OH.. you know the FREE PHONE AND ACTIVATION!!! Remember I said nothing is for free… WELL, it is free..IF I KEEP THE PHONE FOR 36 MONTHS.. and they will put the amount up on the bill and deduct a portion of it each month.. as a monthly rebate…  I was not happy about that.. but figured it is what it is.. until my delayed brain kicked in at home..   36 MONTHS…  THAT IS 3 YEARS.. I AM 82…what the hell?? I could be dead by that time..   Oh, well, will let you know next week how I am doing..  if you care after reading all of this..