A New Form of Entertainment

Sometimes you just have to laugh.

And this one definitely makes me laugh!

Background: we are extremely frugal people, which is a great thing in "these tough economic times".

(John, by the way, finds it amusing to count how many times that particular phrase is used during meetings, phone calls, or conversations. Sometimes he throws it in the discussion just because he thinks it is hilarious how often that expression is used these days: "With these tough economic times I'm getting my haircut at 9:30 tomorrow.")

(OK. Maybe he doesn't really go that far.)

When we moved back to the U.S. and John became a manager at work, he decided to take advantage of his company's offer to (mostly) pay for him to have a cell phone with internet capabilities. Even so, we have to pay a small portion of the bill, so he opts for the cheapest plan possible while limiting his texting and phone calls as much as he can.

It turns out that he has been on a job for the past few months that require him to be out of town quite a lot and to make numerous phone calls to teams all around the world. So, at the beginning of the year, my dear husband called up his cell phone company to get some more minutes added to his existing plan.

Even after the initial conversation, John called the company back to make sure this was still a national plan. After all, basically none of the calls he is making are from Dallas, and he told the customer service people this. They assured him it was a national plan.

So, we get a bill from the cell phone company this week...for $659.28!!!

Think about that one a minute. One month for one cell phone: $659.28.

I'm fairly certain we might not even spend that much money for our living expenses every month!

When John called about this, he very calmly asked a few other questions first and then pulled out, "There is one more thing you could help me with. Could you tell me why my bill this month is $659.28?"

Ummm. Turns out they put him on a regional plan. Meaning every call he made last month was charged as a "roaming" call. We were surprised there is even such a thing as a "regional plan" anymore.

John quickly assured the customer service lady that she could just go ahead and fix the charges because they weren't going to get a penny of the $659.28. And, somehow, as only my husband could do, the final bill for last month ended up being much less than we usually pay. The plan is also revised back to a national calling plan.

Every time I see the cell phone bill, I just start laughing. The funniest part is that the most expensive call listed in the details was made to a TOLL FREE NUMBER for $36.75.

I think we might frame this bill for our own entertainment.