I have a syndrome. I call it "Phantom Pager Syndrome". This is going to sound weird, but stay with me.
You see, I have had a pager, cell phone or both...sometimes even more than one each...since I have started working. That's about 17 years now.
I wear my pagers/cell phones on my belt, on the right side, just above my right leg. For the last few years, I have felt strange vibrations in this area...like a pager set on vibrate. I feel it all the time. Even now as I type this, it seems like someone is trying desperately to get hold of me.
I generally set any communications devices I have to ring and vibrate, because I can't always hear the ringing due to ambient noise or the speaker location versus the case muting the sound. When I feel a distinct vibration, I check and listen for the ring. I leave the ring turned all the way up because I don't hear very well anyhow.
Well, since I have the phantom vibrations, I'm checking my phone ALL THE TIME!
I have the most annoying ring that I could imagine. It is a ring that I like because it is loud and I keep the ringer volume all the way up. That way I have an incentive to answer it...to shut it up. It is called "Vintage Phone" and sounds like an old bell phone ringer. It is great! This way when my phone rings I can always tell it is mine. Plus, it is a unique ringing sound that is quite well done that I bought from a company that specializes in ambient sound effects called SoundRangers. I thought a unique solution such as this would a) annoy people, b) ensure that I know my phone is ringing and c) not be stupid like some other ringers I've heard like whatever the current popular top 40 hip-hop song is.
That is not to say that I don't have other ringers, for example...
- For my friend Chris, I have the theme to "Benny Hill", since he is always horny.
- For my boss, I have the "Imperial March" from Star Wars, since he's like Lord Vader sometimes.
- For my friend KL, I have the theme to "Dynasty" (an '80s prime-time soap) since everything she gets involved with has some kind of extreme drama.
- And for my co-worker APK from Sri Lanka I have the "Monkey" sound from the classic MacOS...it's been around since System 6. (Not very PC, I know!)
But these "Phantom Pages" are getting quite annoying. I started having problems back when I was working for the contract computer service company. At that time I was carrying two pagers and two cell phones! Thankfully, I have only one cell phone now...my own. If I didn't have to have it, I wouldn't!
In another related issue is the Nextel walkie-talkie feature. Not only is it annoying to see and hear people using this feature rather than holding a proper phone conversation (since we can now hear BOTH sides of the conversation) the chirp that it makes really bothers me. This is because I had a Nextel when I worked for the contract service company...every time that thing would chirp, I would cringe. It got so bad that at one point I thought I was going to go completely mad. All day long it would chirp with my boss or co-workers wanting something. Even to this day, hearing the Nextel chirp makes me shudder.
I suppose this is enough rambling for today...
You see, I have had a pager, cell phone or both...sometimes even more than one each...since I have started working. That's about 17 years now.
I wear my pagers/cell phones on my belt, on the right side, just above my right leg. For the last few years, I have felt strange vibrations in this area...like a pager set on vibrate. I feel it all the time. Even now as I type this, it seems like someone is trying desperately to get hold of me.
I generally set any communications devices I have to ring and vibrate, because I can't always hear the ringing due to ambient noise or the speaker location versus the case muting the sound. When I feel a distinct vibration, I check and listen for the ring. I leave the ring turned all the way up because I don't hear very well anyhow.
Well, since I have the phantom vibrations, I'm checking my phone ALL THE TIME!
I have the most annoying ring that I could imagine. It is a ring that I like because it is loud and I keep the ringer volume all the way up. That way I have an incentive to answer it...to shut it up. It is called "Vintage Phone" and sounds like an old bell phone ringer. It is great! This way when my phone rings I can always tell it is mine. Plus, it is a unique ringing sound that is quite well done that I bought from a company that specializes in ambient sound effects called SoundRangers. I thought a unique solution such as this would a) annoy people, b) ensure that I know my phone is ringing and c) not be stupid like some other ringers I've heard like whatever the current popular top 40 hip-hop song is.
That is not to say that I don't have other ringers, for example...
- For my friend Chris, I have the theme to "Benny Hill", since he is always horny.
- For my boss, I have the "Imperial March" from Star Wars, since he's like Lord Vader sometimes.
- For my friend KL, I have the theme to "Dynasty" (an '80s prime-time soap) since everything she gets involved with has some kind of extreme drama.
- And for my co-worker APK from Sri Lanka I have the "Monkey" sound from the classic MacOS...it's been around since System 6. (Not very PC, I know!)
But these "Phantom Pages" are getting quite annoying. I started having problems back when I was working for the contract computer service company. At that time I was carrying two pagers and two cell phones! Thankfully, I have only one cell phone now...my own. If I didn't have to have it, I wouldn't!
In another related issue is the Nextel walkie-talkie feature. Not only is it annoying to see and hear people using this feature rather than holding a proper phone conversation (since we can now hear BOTH sides of the conversation) the chirp that it makes really bothers me. This is because I had a Nextel when I worked for the contract service company...every time that thing would chirp, I would cringe. It got so bad that at one point I thought I was going to go completely mad. All day long it would chirp with my boss or co-workers wanting something. Even to this day, hearing the Nextel chirp makes me shudder.
I suppose this is enough rambling for today...
2 comments:
This is yet another good reason for me not to have a cell phone!
Ironically, I sometimes think I hear the phone or heard it when I'm vacuuming though it's almost always the case that it's no actually ringing. I don't think this is the same as your phantom vibrations experience as I think there is something about the frequency of the vacuum cleaners noise which causes it, but it is just as maddening as I turn it off to check for the sound of the phone "just in case."
Oh, you are so lucky to be disconnected!
I only give out my number to the important people in my life. Yet that doesn't stop it from ringing off the hook. I also use it when I am on call, but my number is hidden behind a voice menu selection.
I prefer to have people call my home phone, since my phone line connects to a VoIP phone system I can intercept the calls and do whatever I want with them before they even ring a phone! Sometimes technology is great.
I, too, have thought I heard my phone ring when in a noisy environment. I have even heard it in a dream and got up to answer it and there was no call! I must be going completely mental...
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