30 December 2008

Very good, madam

I've been reading a bunch of Dorothy Sayers lately and there usually comes the part where Lord Peter wishes to be uninterrupted.  Bunter is instructed that Lord Peter is not at home and his Lordship is left in peace until such time as he resumes accepting calls and visitors.

Living in an era when we are at the beck of so many different forms of call, it pleased me greatly to realize that I have, effectively, an electronic Bunter.  

If I'm not at work, the way to reach me by phone is to call my mobile because the only reason I have a landline is for the DSL for the computer.  The only people who use the landline number are cold callers and I never answer it.  

My mobile has Caller ID.  And when I moved into the building, the nice folks in the rental office arranged for the front door visitor system to ring my mobile.

So if I ever wish "not to be in" for any period of time, I can simply turn off the mobile.  

And if I run across a suitably dignified and reserved* run of dialogue for Bunter expressing that although he may be sitting in just the other room, Lord Peter is not at the present time at home, I may have to change my outgoing message on the mobile.  


*Two words that usually only describe me when the direction in italics is "sarcastically."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's similar to the way I've been functioning since I got my cell phone in May. I bravely called the phone company today and cancelled a few services that were now served by the mobile.
I also inquired about any internet services they offer, and she was ready to sign me up right away. She did her level best at ignoring the fact that my goal was to cut costs.
The best part was when they told me about their dial-up service, and I could even keep my e-mail address. Except the domain would change. "You can't fool me!" I exclaimed. "That would be a different address!!!" The tech sheepishly admitted it. Besides, I was just curious about the cost of a DSL line. You know, once I get a job and all that.

-Carol

Anonymous said...

"mobile" hmm.. perhaps you've been spending too much time with Brett and Charles. On this side of the Atlantic, the usual term is "cell." --Simon