Math and cell phones
This has nothing to do with marriage, but I have to say that sometimes I'm just staggered by the level of ignorance I encounter during the course of my day. I know that "ignorant" has become a synonym for "hate-filled, narrow-minded, and racist," but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the sheer "I-don't-know-squat-about-anything" brand of ignorance. Usually I blame the progressively wretched state of U.S. education for ignorance in people younger than me, but I met two people this past weekend who both had a few years on me and couldn't do simple division.
I won't mention names, but our Sprint phone had died, and the people at the Sprint store were downright rude and condescending to Mrs. Happy when she asked to have it fixed or replaced, so Sprint has lost our business. First thing Saturday morning, I went to Best Buy to check out phones not branded by Sprint and calling plans not on Sprint's network from a company that doesn't manage its stores like a DMV office the way Sprint does. I spoke with a friendly, helpful woman who explained to me that I could get two phones and put them on the same plan. The plan came with 5,000 minutes, which means, and I quote, "that on each phone you could use…um…uh" here she hung her head "I can't think." I suggested that perhaps she was looking for the number 2,500 (minutes), which brightened up her saddened countenance considerably. She quickly agreed that I would be able to use each phone for 2,500 minutes without fear of incurring additional charges. I passed.
From there I visited a local store dedicated to a single wireless company. A salesman there asked me how much time I expected to spend per month using my new cell phone. I told him probably four or five hours. The word "hours" had an affect on him that I would only expect from a word such as "vasectomy." His eyes opened wide and darted around while he stammered under his breath, not knowing what to say. You see, cell phone plans come with minutes, not hours, and he couldn't translate my response into terms he could understand. He managed to find a calculator, and after pressing a few buttons and staring at the floor, he asked sheepishly, "Is 400 minutes enough?" I told him it was, and things went smoothly from there.
Now we have a new cell phone. I think this next Saturday I may go to the Sprint store and tell them about the Let's Make a Deal brainteaser. That'll show 'em.
