After a little complaining, AT&T was surprisingly unresisting in allowing me to cancel my service. The only problem is that I would have to pay the local cellular dealer a huge penalty if I cancelled before six months. That was outside of my contract with AT&T, but the price I pay for going to a discount cellular dealer. Therefore, the plan is such: Subscribe to a *real* cellular service meanwhile leaving this phone alone for six months before cancellation.
The next day, I picked up Bell Atlantic service and one of those nifty little Motorola StarTac phones. It is great fun. I set the ringer on vibrate mode so when the phone rings, it shakes about rapidly in my pocket. Of course, I had to test it multiple times. After all, Elizabeth is abroad and this is the most action I have had in a while; therefore leaving me with the oooos and ahhhhs of modern day gadgetry.
The only problem is that when the phone rings in vibrate mode, it isn't entirely discretely silent. It's actually accompanied with a low hum that is coincidentally very evident in a quiet room. This is what leads me to what I called earlier as 'unfortunate timings'.
Two of the three incidents involved staff meetings at Parthenon; the humor in those incidents was self-evident. A couple of employees wondered why I had something vibrating in my pocket and laughed it off. The last one was less passable. During one midday afternoon, I felt my stomach gurgle, and I felt more or less, a little gassy. I proceeded to the men's room where it was semi-full. I passed a few people as they looked at me peculiarly, for I am a new face around Parthenon that they have never seen before. I smile slightly-not too much, for that is a little too friendly for men's room etiquette, and proceed into the nearest toilet stall. With precise timing, I unbuckled my belt, lowered my trousers, undergarments, and sat down. It was just then when the phone decided to vibrate and emit a slight hum for all to hear in the quiet men's room.
Not good timing.
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