Parental Guidance
It doesn’t take much for children not to understand their parents. The generation gap is usually more than obvious, especially concerning technology.
I am in that situation. My parents are ok with technology, my Dad can almost program the VCR, and is pretty good with his computer. Mom on the other hand won’t touch it. They don’t understand how people can sit for hours on the Internet.
The thing that baffles me most is their mobile phones. They’re both on PAYG, Mom with Fido and Dad with PC Mobile (our version of Tesco Mobile) but it just doesn’t really make sense to me.
First off, they don’t really need two cell phones. (I know, I know, I’m usually throwing phones at people and yelling at anyone who doesn’t have one, but bear with me)
They are of the “I have my phone in case of an emergency” species, you know the ones. Those who keep the phone in their car/handbag and only ever turn it on if the car breaks down. (Which by the way, annoys the hell out of me every time I try and call my Mom on hers) It made sense for them to have two before, Dad was working 100 km away and in the winter it made sense. But now he’s retired, and they’re down to one car, two cell phones is almost silly, considering they never get used.
Here’s my problem, what I need help with, what I can’t wrap my head around.
Like I said, they’re both on PAYG, Dad buys a $15 refill card from PC mobile. This gets him $15 worth of credit, .20cents a minute, for 30 days. (He could buy a $25 which gives him 60 days, but apparently it makes more sense in the world of parents to be a $15 every 30.)
The problem is, he barely uses the phone. Like I mean barely, once a month if you’re lucky, maybe twice. But every 30 days his credit expires, so, on the 29th day, he has to buy another $15 card.
He currently has $110 worth of credit.
It’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. If he misses refilling that account by one day, woooosh! There it all goes. What a waste of money.
Mom isn’t much better, although she uses hers a little more often, but still sits with giant account balances. (Fido only makes you buy a $10 card every 30 days.)
I had this conversation with them the other day when I found out how high their balances were.
(K is me, D is Dad, M is Mom)
K: “So, why don’t you just use it more often, use it up.”
D: “I do, I used it twice last week”
K: “But you still have tons of credit! If you miss refilling that by one day, it’s all gone. GONE! What a waste of money!”
M: “he’s done that before.”
K: “So just use it, like all the time, for every call you make!”
D: “I do use it, I call Mom when she has to come pick me up at the golf course” (which is like once every 2 weeks)
Anyway, at this point I started banging my head against the table and gave up the conversation.
Sure he could use it a lot to use up his credit. But then he’s back in the same boat again after awhile unless he uses it constantly, which he doesn’t.
So what do they do? Is there another option out there for the “emergency”/”occasional” user?
Or are they forever doomed with lots of credit?
