What's made you grumpy today?

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I was 30 when that was my first phone, still got it in a box somewhere, the box of old phones and chargers.

I've got a, very small, box like that. My Hudl and an old "dumb" Nokia phone they didn't want back from work and my first, and only other laptop, are in it. Mostly I keep them because everyone says you need to be careful about stored data being stolen and I've no idea what to do about that - except something involving a sledge hammer perhaps?

 

[bugsymike]

They are trying to get rid of copper here also and as you say what we had was fast enough.
All companies from phones to cars are trying to sell us the latest and fastest product which we don't need and in most cases will never use.
As you say Jock, no one speaks to any one. The only way they can strike up a relationship is on websites etc.
often with disappointing results. Not me, I managed that in person
Like online banking and closing all the local branches, they cause the problem and then blame us for not using the services.
I honestly foresee a time when a rogue state etc. brings down the internet and we will all be stuck, no money, no proof you even had any, no access to services, they wouldn't even need to invade a Country!
Plus banks etc. withdraw services for those they deem not worthy, even MPs and big companies, which if we become a "totally cash less society" only becomes easier to control the law abiding, at the same time criminals will not be affected as they will continue to steal what they want.

 

[Cheest]

. The phone is a tool, It shouldn't rule your life, for too many people today it is a way of a boss contacting you out of work hours, telling when they want you to work.

My old boss and I almost came to blows over this. I think the threat of him having to replace the front door of his house because I told him I'd rip it off its hinges and kick his ass if he ever called me after hours settled it. His wife, Jayne, may have said she'd help hold him down for me.

 

[bugsymike]

My old boss and I almost came to blows over this. I think the threat of him having to replace the front door of his house because I told him I'd rip it off its hinges and kick his ass if he ever called me after hours settled it. His wife, Jayne, may have said she'd help hold him down for me.

It's very like the modern version of "slave and his master", they shout and you jump, but only if you let them.

 

[porta]

Mobiles…
Have to say, got a call today saying ‘I think you’ve got a sheep caught in fence’ after getting good clear instructions from them and a ‘share my location’ it was easy to locate…if I’d have been doing normal rounds, it could have been there a while, luckily she was alright, and didn’t appear to have been there long, but already tiring

 

[The Panda Nut]

Alreet grandad

My first one I was 13 and it had a phone book and could hold 9 text messages before you had to delete one to make space.

View attachment 445737

Grandad! Igot my first mobile at 30. I do remember my brother had one in the 70's You needed a sack barrow to move it about.

 

[Cheest]

First work cell phone at 41 and I fought it. I hated pagers, too.

 

[vexorg]

I dont think the UK had a mobile network until the 80's.....

 

[The Panda Nut]

Speaking as a 70 year old grandad (7 times over), I only ever use a landline. Even when I had my business. This meant I could walk away from all the hassles of Monday to Friday 9-5. People used to say "What about if my car breaks down?" To which I replied " If you have your car regularly serviced by me, it won't!".
I know I am an old f*rt, but I didn't grow up in a society ruled by 24 hour a day contact. The phone is a tool, It shouldn't rule your life, for too many people today it is a way of a boss contacting you out of work hours, telling when they want you to work. One of my daughters used to regularly get calls in the middle of the night saying the burglar alarm had gone off and have to travel into work and stand outside waiting for the Police to turn up as too dangerous to go in on her own, only to find it was a system fault, then go home get a couple of hours sleep before work as normal, all that on a assistant managers salary, not much more than minimum wage.
I have only ever had two mobile phones, both given to me by my daughters worried if I was traveling away some time, they never got used and the "pay as you go credit " was eaten by the phone companies.
I am not a total technophobe, I was building PCs for myself and others even before Pentium's came out.
The phone and broadband companies have created an addiction that bring them in billions, with no care about the affects on peoples lives.
Regarding the addiction side of my point, if an alcoholic gave up drink for a year we would be impressed. How many mobile phone users could stop for seven days even?
Does this comply with "What's made you grumpy today?"

Yep fully complies, even if you are wrong... LOL I agree totally and recommend my stock middle of the night answe for all except close family.

"Its 2.00am. **** off and dont ring back or else" I never had anyone from the corporate world ever mention how rude I was when answering, and calls quickly stopped from the guilty companies parties. Its bullying when its work and not acceptable unless you are paid for 24/7 call up, as I eventually was. The value in emergency, and from teh maps and directions when away from home are however great. My faily seem to be all over the world these days and it is reassuring that we can and are still in touch regualrly.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I dont think the UK had a mobile network until the 80's.....

Your doing better than me as you can remember. It might have been early 80's possibly, as you indicate. Looking back its staggering how far these things have come

 

[AndyRKett]

Your doing better than me as you can remember. It might have been early 80's possibly, as you indicate. Looking back its staggering how far these things have come

cellular phones appeared in the 80s but before that we had radiophones, which were basically a radio set that connected you with an operator who dialed the number for you.

These were the phones that needed a sack barrow to move them about.

 

[bugsymike]

Grandad! Igot my first mobile at 30. I do remember my brother had one in the 70's You needed a sack barrow to move it about.

Used to see something like that used by poseur car salesmen at auctions, trouble is even today they feel the need to shout whilst holding a conversation, which was annoying if trying to bid when nearby. I felt like saying tell your mate to open his window, he could probably hear you without the effing phone!

 

[bugsymike]

How about fax machines on "dial up", phone rings and you would answer to a horrible squeal followed by a fax printing out offering holiday deals!

 

[The Panda Nut]

How about fax machines on "dial up", phone rings and you would answer to a horrible squeal followed by a fax printing out offering holiday deals!

Love em. And your talking to the man that took the first portable PC, bought at huge cost, into the garden and executed it with a big axe. I still feel good from that act or revenge.

 

[bugsymike]

Love em. And your talking to the man that took the first portable PC, bought at huge cost, into the garden and executed it with a big axe. I still feel good from that act or revenge.

I recall us clubbing together to buy a father in law a BBC Model B computer around 1982, he had an engineering company but couldn't get on with it.
Shortly after I went to an evening course at college on computing, there was one BBC Model B between every two students, the lecturer was clever but couldn't teach to save his life, you called him over with a question, he would tap the keys and walk off!
I learnt far more talking to other people and reading a book called "Inside The Grey Box", then started buying and rebuilding computers, I could understand the mechanics of them , but totally clueless about programming, unlike one of my sisters who did that most of her working life. I recall getting my first sound card after listening to a friend playing the Indian Jones game on one.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I recall us clubbing together to buy a father in law a BBC Model B computer around 1982, he had an engineering company but couldn't get on with it.
Shortly after I went to an evening course at college on computing, there was one BBC Model B between every two students, the lecturer was clever but couldn't teach to save his life, you called him over with a question, he would tap the keys and walk off!
I learnt far more talking to other people and reading a book called "Inside The Grey Box", then started buying and rebuilding computers, I could understand the mechanics of them , but totally clueless about programming, unlike one of my sisters who did that most of her working life. I recall getting my first sound card after listening to a friend playing the Indian Jones game on one.

Great little book!

 

[Cheest]

It's very like the modern version of "slave and his master", they shout and you jump, but only if you let them.

Harold and I worked together for almost 27 years. Him as the boss and me being the right hand. We were at loggerheads on occasion, usually when he knee jerked after seeing dollar signs, then I'd put integrity first and dig in my heels. Things mellowed out after his first grandkids were born. We were in a contest there for a while until one of his daughters squirted out twins and I said, "Nope". Things really changed after the reorg and he had his legs cut out from beneath him in a corporate power grab. From then on, if I was against doing something that wasn't in a customers best interest, Harold would say I was right and let me fix it.

Biggest problem we have now is that our wive's know each other from the school district they worked in and they tag team us.

 

[bugsymike]

We were in a contest there for a while until one of his daughters squirted out twins and I said, "Nope".

My second wife went to the Doctor, who examined her and told her she was pregnant and to come off the pill, this upset her as she had thought our three children was enough. On going to the 18 week scan at hospital we were told she was only 10 weeks pregnant and to compound it further it was twins!
On confronting the Doctor on his poor original diagnosis he laughed, I said it's alright for you I have to buy a seven seat car!
My first wife trained as a nurse and the standing joke at the time nearly 50 years ago amongst nurses was that "Doctors buried their mistakes", I suppose in the this case he did the opposite!
I looked on my twin girls as a bonus, which 33 years on has been proved to be the case.

 

[vexorg]

That was like a guy at where I used to work, thought two kids were enough, then a shock call from his wife saying pregnant, and it's twins. He was visibly shaken as he realised his car wasn't big enough, then his hourse wasn't big enough.

 

[bugsymike]

That was like a guy at where I used to work, thought two kids were enough, then a shock call from his wife saying pregnant, and it's twins. He was visibly shaken as he realised his car wasn't big enough, then his hourse wasn't big enough.

I had already had to move to a three bedroom house owing to the two girls and a boy, so eventually they ended up with two sets of bunk beds for the four girls.
That seemed to work although I recall middle daughter asking me for some parcel tape and on following her upstairs I found them trying to "repair" the bunk beds amidst lots of laughter, as they had been trampolining from one to another and gone through the slats