Actually, I had to get two cellular phones. The first one was through AT&T. As magnificent and reliable as the company sounds, unbeknownst to me, it has one of the *worst* cellular phone services in the New York City area. It is so horrible to the extent where it is unusable at times. Calls that are normally made or taken by competing carriers simply cannot be handled by AT&T. Supposedly, there are too many customers for their equipment to handle in the area, but nonetheless, it is a monstrous company, and their cellular service may be superior in other parts of the world, but my experience with the service in the local area here is, to sum it up in one word… sucks.
I had wondered why I had not received any phone calls in the past week. Usually, I still get about two to three calls a day from lingering recruiters curious if I had been placed yet. And a few of them still toss tasty morsels to see if I am truly happy and would not mind switching consulting assignments. But, I have not had any calls-none. The phone did not ring. There were no messages left in the voice mail either-nothing.
I sat at my desk, at Parthenon, my fictitious name for the client company, staring into the monitor when the regular company phone on my desk rang.
"Peter, it's Elizabeth," the voice blared over the receiver.
"Hey…" I sounded a little bewildered.
"Sorry I am calling you at this phone. I tried calling you on the cellular, but it just keeps giving me a busy signal. Either that, or it's just a dead line."That was strange seeing how I have Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, and all the wonderful features that they freely throw in, including the automatic butt scratcher. With all that, one should never have to endure a busy signal. I figured it was more ethical to have a cellular phone to make my personal calls too instead of using the client company's. After winning the vote of enduring admiration, please also realize that I love gadgets, and maybe I just need an excuse to acquire one more.
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