Dude, Where's My Phone?

Rocco Augusto · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:12 am Post subject: Dude, Where's My Phone?

http://nerdofsteel.com/dude-wheres-my-phone

Have you ever just had one of those days where one crazy thing happens after another? Well this past Friday I had one of those days and it completely caught me off guard. After writing about it on my blog and sharing a few laughs with the Smartphone Thoughts news crew, we decided that our readers might get a chuckle out of the story as well. Enjoy! Smile

Some of you may not know this about me, but I do not like to drive. After getting into a pretty bad car accident a few years back, I like to take my chances on public transportation. For the most part, I find it mildly relaxing. I can sit back and catch up on my daily news or listen to music via my Stereo Bluetooth Headset.

This last Friday, as I was waiting for my bus to go to work, a gentleman approached me and asked to borrow my phone to make a call. Normally, being the nice guy that I am, I would have been more than happy to. Time and time again though, I have learned that most people are not considerate of other individuals’ property. Usually it’s the person that just wants to gab to their friends with total disregard for the fact that I am footing the bill for that call. Keeping this in mind I politely told the person no.

The person that was standing next to me seemed to be annoyed by my lack of kindness towards helping my fellow man and in the most passive aggressive tone possible told the person “Well, you can use my phone,” as if I just made some huge social faux pas.

Now some people might feel that the passive aggressive tone was deserved. For a split second I almost felt that way. My whole life I was taught to be helpful towards others in need and to treat people how I would want to be treated. If I was in a tough spot, I might need to borrow someone’s phone as it is becoming harder and harder to find a pay phone here in the City of Roses. Then I realized, if anything happened to my Samsung Blackjack, it would be close to impossible to get a stranger to reimburse me for the damages and I stopped beating myself up over it.

Then something happened that caught me completely off guard. Not even two seconds after this Good Samaritan handed over his phone, the other guy took off down the street running! That phone was as good as gone and it was at that time that I realized that it was almost my phone that would have performed this vanishing act. Needless to say, the Good Samaritan looked pretty embarrassed and just sat there dumbfounded not knowing what to do… so I let him borrow my phone to call for help. Smile

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bnycastro · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:54 am Post subject:

Good thing both of you weren't hurt. Mobile phone related crimes here sometimes result in deaths. I guess you're lucky that the thief just wanted the phone and he wasn't violent or anything.
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Rocco Augusto · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:25 am Post subject:

T-Will · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:07 pm Post subject:

Ouch, that sucks...I let a dude use my phone once, but I dialed the number for him and it was only my old Samsung slider, so it wouldn't be the end of the world to lose it. After hearing this story, I won't let anyone other than family or friends use my Dash (although, I might be willing to make a phone call for a stranger if they asked politely).

Jason Dunn · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject:

I'd like to think that I'd react quickly enough to stop something like that from happening, but having never been in a situation like that, I really have no clue. Laughing

Crazy story! Shocked

Mike Temporale · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject:

That's nuts! I'm glad things worked our for you. I don't tend to loan my phone out too often. Of course, I do get into a lot of phone conversations and end up showing my phone off and end up passing it around, but usually that's in a more controlled location and not with a bunch of strangers on a street corner.
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Kris Kumar · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:18 pm Post subject:

Rocco, you should have laughed at the Good Samritan. The Nelson (from the Simpsons) style laugh - HA HA! Laughing

Just kidding.
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Kris Kumar · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:21 pm Post subject:

Rocco Augusto · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:50 pm Post subject:

yeah, i just wont let strangers use my phone anymore. while it was funny, i just couldn't afford ANOTHER phone at the moment and I cant imagine life without my Blackjack Smile

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Damion Chaplin · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:04 pm Post subject:

I let a guy on the street use my K-JAM once. He looked like he was in serious need and he asked nicely. So he dialed the number, waited then said "Hi Mom, it's me, no, don't hang up, I promise I won't call you again, I just wanted to say I was sorry... OK.... OK.... OK, I love you mom. I promise this is the last time I call." He hung up and handed the phone back to me.

Kinda learned my lesson there. Even if the purpose of using the phone is benign, it may just open a whole can of worms you're not ready to deal with... Thankfully, all this guy wanted to do was bug his mom, but frankly he could have just as readily ordered a hit on her... Shocked