Memories of Phone Slams Past
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I remember when planning our wedding, my soon to be wife slammed her phone several times when talking to her mother about said plans. It was entertaining, amusing, and a bit frightening at times.
And yes, it is an artform that has sadly disappeared with the march of technology.
it’s the little things that relieve pressure…
Legal secretaries were often best at the phone slam. That’s because most of the time they’re forced to talk to someone that the lawyer doesn’t want to talk to. Early in my career I had a secretary who stormed into my office insisting I talk to a completely unreasonable client that used to call twice daily after being told that if she wasn’t going to accept the good settlement offer that we had received she was going to have to wait until the case came up for trial. At that time it was 44 months between filing and a trial date in Harris County Texas. I’d stopped accepting the twice a day phone calls to tell her the same thing but my secretary couldn’t refuse to take the call. Voicemail was a godsend.
Still have a land line in the kitchen for safety reasons. Thankful we have caller ID. Phone works during a hurricane most of the time. Copper wire. No FIOS in our rural area.
Mostly we use our cell phones.
My husband last year said he was tired of his flip phone and wanted a smart phone. But he hooked it up to wireless speakers in the kitchen so there is classical music streaming Arizona KACH all day. It drove me nuts…. calls would come in on that phone and I’d have to tract him down all over the farm. He got the message and hooked up a tablet instead. Now carries his smart cell, though he still uses a pocket day timer.
In the workstation of our AL, I believe that I witnessed the equivalent to slamming the phone. In almost a perfect spiral, the owner released her device, to an imaginary receiver who must of looked exactly like a concrete cinder wall. The funny thing was is that it didn’t explode upon impact.
She picked it up and began to use it.
A Cameron Swayze moment if ever there was one.
( A Timex reference, for those wondering. )