Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Silly Monkey Stories #48 - Ring

Canada 21/May/2009 – Santiago (14)
Santi is fourteen now, so he considers himself mature enough to have his own cell phone. Even more, he thinks he has the right to choose what kind of phone, make, model and even the plan… We agreed to his requirements, of course, partly because it was his birthday and partly because… why bother fighting back?
That being said, we went to a Future Shop and bought his new cell phone, of the latest technology, with a really good little keyboard, camera, MP3 player, kitchen, bedroom and back yard. I was looking so weak at that point, that we even ended buying a second one for my wife. The plan ‘we’ chose was –of course– one that included ‘unlimited text’.
I won’t go into discussing how close to ‘unlimited’ Santi is these days. I will only say that our first statement arrived 17 days later and it included about 560 messages (I’m not kidding!). But there was another thing that made me really mad at first, and then left me perplexed: my little son had spent about $13.00 under ‘ring tones’.
So we buy such a modern phone, with all kinds of functions and features, and you still have to pay so it will go ‘ring’?
imageThis is the actual phone he now has… 
Argentina21/May/2009 – Santiago (14)
Como Santi ya tiene catorce años, se considera a sí mismo lo suficientemente maduro como para tener su propio teléfono celular. No sólo eso, el tipo también piensa que tiene derecho a elegir qué tipo de teléfono, marca, modelo y hasta plan... Por supuesto, nosotros accedimos a semejantes requerimientos, un poco porque era su cumpleaños y otro poco porque... para qué resisitirse?
Así las cosas, nos fuimos a un Future Shop y le compramos su nuevo teléfono celular, de última tecnología, con un tecladito muy bueno, cámara de fotos, MP3 player, cocina, dormitorio y patio. Ya que me habían agarrado cansado, hasta compramos uno para mi esposa. El plan que ‘elegimos’ fue –por supuesto– uno que incluyera ‘unlimited text’.
No voy a discutir qué tan cerca de ‘unlimited’ anda Santi por estos días. Sólo diré que el primer resumen de cuenta me llegó a los 17 días y habían algo así como 560 mensajes (les juro que no miento!). Pero hubo otra cosa que me puso muy enojado al principio y después me dejó perplejo: mi hijito se había ‘patinado’ algo así como $13.00 en concepto de ‘ring tones’ (tonos de llamada).
Compramos semejante teléfono con todos los chiches, y hay que pagar por separado para que haga ‘ring’?
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  1. Sorry Mr. Linky is down today!

    LOL!! I think they have you wrapped around their little fingers . . . your whole family. Ringtones are fun, but I would only let him download one new one every few months.

  2. Espero que Santi haya aprendido y tu ya pagaste la novatada!!!! jajajajja...Besitos

  3. Crazy, isn't it? Our kids want cell phones, but we haven't let them. Of course, they don't go much of anywhere, so that's a big part of it. But our oldest will be getting his driver's permit soon, so it won't be long.

    I actually just purchased some new ring tones over the weekend, cause I was tired of having nothing interesting. LOL!!! But I'm the mom. I pay the bill. ;D

  4. Pero son unos rings bonitos... que se baje el de "Mi perro dinamita"... otra pregunta, tiene palanca al piso o al volante ?

  5. You should know that telephone companies make their profits not on charging you for "only" speaking but for "the other things".

    I dont think that 13 canadian dollars is too much for a boy in using ringtones, how much do you spend on beverages, or fast food?

    I also think that your mistake comes from the fact that you ting that only the cellphone would suffice, kids want the full monty, not just an empty cellphone.

    Think about that.


  6. For the sake of clarity, I should have said "you think" and not "you ting".


  7. Fred, I disagree.

    I do think that $13.00 is a lot of money, especially when my son spends it on something so trivial. How much money I spend on beverages or fast food is irrelevant to you and to this discussion, and in any case we would be talking about a primary need like food. I'm not going to go to a McDonald's if I know I have dinner waiting for me at home.

    Finally, my son hardly received an 'empty' telephone. It contains about a hundred different ring tones and songs, plus millions you can add just by transferring an MP3 file (or a 30 sec clip) from your computer. Anybody with 2 days of computer training can do it; thinking that if I don't download tones my phone will be 'empty' is just plain lazy and careless, because after all, you're not paying for it.

    I'm assuming you're an adult, and if that's the case I'm surprised to see that you can actually not only justify but even almost support this position. My 14 year old son has shown more maturity, as he quickly realized that what he had done was wrong, apologized for that and offered to pay me back (which I declined, because I know he didn't mean to cause me any problems).

    I repeat, 13 Canadian dollars is a lot of money for us, especially if you consider that just 8 years ago we didn't even have that money to feed our kids.

    Finally, I hope you could appreciate that I use this weekly post to tell funny story, and that was the intention. You took all the fun out of it! :-)

  8. Gabriel,

    I am very sorry that you do not have any sense of humour !

    Maybe you think you have, but really, you have not.


  9. Fred, by what you said I can tell you started reading my blog yesterday...

    Maybe it's your sense of sarcasm or irony the one that is not working, have you consider that wild possibility?

    When somebody I don't know, and has never commented on my blog before, asks me how much money do I spend on other things, and there's no smiley afterwards, I will assume that person means what he/she is writing.

    And I will reply accordingly. I'm very sorry you think I have no sense of humour. There are many bloggers out there that do, I recommend you visit them. I can't expect everybody to like me, what I write or how I write it.

    Have a great day.

  10. Gabriel :




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