It's Been a Cell Phone Day

Actually, it has been a cell phone week. Kalisha loves her electronic gadgets.Her camera, her computer, her I-Pod and her CD player. However, the love of her life is her cell phone. I should say "phones" because she has had a multitude of them.

If she has an addiction, it is to have the very latest cell phone. Unfortunately, as with most addictions, her funds and her desires don't necessarily match. The problem isn't that she wants a new one; the problem, at least for me, is that she wants it TODAY! When she gets her sights set on the phone she wants, she is like a dog with a bone. She can't think about anything else. We discuss it at breakfast, lunch and dinner and nearly every minute in between. I shouldn't say that we discuss it; she tries to persuade me and I occasionally get a word in. Sometimes, the word I get in, is "Kalisha, be quiet!!"

I can't really explain it, but it becomes an obsession and the thoughts consume her. She 'self talks' her way through all of the information that everyone has tried to tell her. She understands that she has to wait until she is ready for an upgrade, etc BUT....She always comes back with a but.
Her first phone was a normal cell phone; send and receive calls. Then she needed one that took pictures, too. She used that one for a while and then it needed an upgrade, too.
I have to interject a few 'cell phone' stories that always make me laugh when I remember them. She had just gotten a new phone when she went to Texas to visit her sister. When she came back and landed at O'Hare in Chicago, I was waiting at the desk when she came down the ramp. After hugs and kisses, she got this horrified look on her face and said, "I left my phone on the plane!" She immediately turned to go back down the ramp when the attendant stopped her, saying "I'm sorry, but no one is allowed back on the plane." I'm not sure if Kalisha is just persuasive or the attendant was afraid she was going to have a full-fledged meltdown, but she let her go back on the empty plane and find her phone.
Her sisters are always amazed that the Verizon employees switch Kalisha's numbers for free when she has a new phone but they have to pay to have theirs switched. Perhaps she just won't leave the counter until they do it. Some of the people working at Verizon probably know her by name. They are always very nice to her but sometimes I have visions of them seeing her coming in and saying, "It's your turn, you take her."
One time, I went with her. Her phone wasn't working right and she wanted it fixed. The young man took it apart and told me that he had fixed it. It seems there was a green sucker stuck in it. I asked him to repeat it and he said a green sucker was stuck in it. Thinking that was a techy term for something, I said I didn't know what that was. He leaned toward me and rather condescendingly said, "Lollipop?" I laughed so hard, I couldn't talk, but when I did, I told Kalisha she had better put her phone in a case instead of just in the bottom of her purse, where obviously, green suckers reside.
Besides the first few phones, she has had a pink Razor and then a red NV. She really wanted a Droid when she saw the commercial. I said they were too expensive. When we went to ABC Warehouse, they had a sign on the door....Verizon Droid / 99cents. Oh man, she was at that booth faster than a speeding bullet! She used an upgrade from another phone on our account and she got her Droid for $1.06 with tax. She was content for a few months but then decided that the Droid 2 was so much better.

She can text quite well; she can't spell very well, but have you seen any text messages from teens? She fits right in. Back to the Droid 2. Again, I said no. She looked on Craigslist, she looked at Best Buy, she checked the newspaper. I always advise her not to buy used, so she found a new one on E-bay for $49.99. She was so excited. I said no. I knew there was some catch; there had to be. She wouldn't leave me alone until I sat down and read the whole website. It looked legitimate and if she used my upgrade, she could get it. Okay, I gave in. It came in the mail and I told her she had to wait until I had time to get it all set up on Verizon's site and switch the new phone from my number to her number. She came downstairs an hour later and said she had it all done. She downloads apps and checks her e-mails and facebook while riding in the car. She loved it.

One Sunday on the way home from church, I mentioned that I thought Mr. Jones must have the bible on his phone because I saw him reading it in church. That afternoon, she told me that she had downloaded the entire bible.

Last week, she took her phone into Verizon to ask a question about an app. Big mistake! She discovered the I-Phone. Oh my gosh! I have no way of describing to you what it is like when she gets 'stuck' on something. She can't get herself unstuck. We are out of upgrades until July. You might think that is only one month away, but to Kalisha it might as well be two years away. Again, she has been searching E-Bay, Craigslist, Best Buy, etc. Her behavioral therapist discussed it with her this morning and advised her to save her money until July.

Even though Kalisha knows that it costs MUCH more if you buy it w/out an upgrade, she would do it anyway, if I said yes.

All I can say is that I probably won't get a new phone until the year 2015, since my upgrade date is always used by someone other than me.

As an after thought, I can imagine that some of you are thinking, 'Why don't you just tell her no?" That sounds so simple and like the logical thing to do, but I will tell you that even though Kalisha doesn't scream, cry, yell, or have a tantrum, her incessant searching and talking and figuring a way to get it can definitely wear you down.