Monday, December 16, 2013

My Mom and Voicemail--An Honors English II OP

The other day I was on my phone fueling my perfectly healthy addiction to Tumblr, when my phone starts ringing. Technically, it was vibrating since I refuse to be that person who has their volume turned up so high that everyone and their mother can hear it ringing. Actually, now that I think about it, I keep it on vibrate because I never want to become my mother. You see, she says that she can’t hear very well, but I believe that she has a deep-seated need to keep her volume on the loudest setting known to humankind. And let me tell you, even though she has a mediocre phone, that thing has speakers and subwoofers that would make God jealous. On top of that, she chose the ringtone responsible for every single bad thing that has ever happened on this green Earth and, since her friends have no sense when it is appropriate to call, her phone goes off several times during the night. I’ve actually stopped trying to get 3 hours of sleep because as soon as I begin to drift off, her phone is like, “HA HA HA. Not on my watch. LET ME PLAY YOU THE SONG OF MY PEOPLE.” Then in morning, my mom asks me, “Oh Ali, what time did you go to sleep? You look horrible and exhausted.” I have to lay there for a few minutes, half dead, glaring at her through sleep-deprived eyes before I can say, “Didn’t you hear your phone go off ten times last night, mom? Cause I did.” To which she’ll reply, “I don’t see how that pertains to you not getting enough sleep. Stop making excuses.” Lately, my mom has been receiving more calls than telemarketers make in a week. So, throughout the day, the house will randomly start shaking. You know, plates rattling, picture frames falling off walls, the roof caving in.. and every time this happens my dad will come rushing into my room, out of breath, completely flustered, screaming, “WAS THAT ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE?” and I’m like, “No dad, that was just mom’s phone ringing..” “Ali, stop lying to your father. I’m calling NASA. These earthquakes are not natural.” We’re lucky we have such good insurance. When I’m out in public with my family, I tell my mom to put her phone on silent and she’s always like, “Oh Ali, don’t be such worry scurry rat. No one can hear it.” Five minutes later, her phone goes off and the aftermath results is everyone having permanent hearing damage in a 10,000 mile radius, countless reports of people’s heads exploding, Japan just got hit by a tsunami, and a portal to hell opened up in Kansas and there are demons running around like there’s no tomorrow. “Did I do that?”

Anyway, at first, I had no idea what was happening, then I realized that someone was calling me and I became unnecessarily angry with that person for interrupting me mid-reblog. Then I get a notification saying that they left me a voicemail. A voicemail. Excuse me, but I don’t have time to listen to your annoying voice. Okay? Who leaves voicemails anyway? The only people who are allowed to leave a message are my grandparents, but they’re a special case because they had to return their home phone to the store because they thought it was too complicated to use. But you know what, they don’t even leave a message, they just keep calling and calling until someone picks up, and if no one picks up the home phone, you know that my mom’s phone is going to be causing a couple natural disaster soon. You see, I just don’t understand the idea in having a voicemail. People rarely call me and it’s not like having one will magically make folks desire to chat with me. Heck, I won’t even answer. And have you ever tried to record a voicemail greeting? I swear to god, that is the utmost stressful processes in the universe. One day I tried to record a flawless salutation. It started out as, “Hello?............ Just kidding, I’m not actually here. Why the crap are you calling me anyways?” It took me 5 hours and it’s basically 2 and a half minutes of me ranting about how greatly I hate voicemail greetings. I literally needed to punch everyone who decided to call instead of text me in the throat for the next 2 months. So uh yeah, if you ever feel like calling me, don’t. In fact, I’ll block your number. In conclusion, shout out to Apple for making blocking my entire contact list possible.

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