A Phone Story

Point the first: I don't have a smart phone, I have a dumb phone, or as the nice young man at the store called it, a "texting" phone.

Point the second: Every night, I turn my cell phone ringer off, so that if it rings or beeps in the night, it won't disturb me. I used to turn it off completely*, but it annoyed me that if I got a text while it was off, it would tell me the time it was received, meaning the time I turned the phone back on, rather than the time it was sent. So I switched to just turning the sound off. And I usually remember to turn it on in the morning, once I feel awake enough to deal with it.
*Years ago, visiting my parents, I did that and forgot to turn it back on until the next afternoon, when I found three messages from a very drunk guy who thought he was calling his girlfriend. Phone, or at least volume, off at night, check.

Point the third: Just about every day, I get a call or two or three that are junk, the ones where if you answer it, a recorded voice starts telling you cheerful stupid things like that they are calling from "your credit card company" or the IRS, or it might be a live person who says hello after you already said hello, and it goes on that way, and basically, if you call me from a number I don't know, or have saved in the phone, or that comes up unavailable, I don't answer it. I will look at the phone and, seeing that it isn't a call to answer, I will touch the "silent" button so I don't have to listen to it ring.

Point the fourth: When I touch the "silent" button, it is replaced by a "ring" button in case I change my mind.

Point the fifth: One morning, when I was turning the ringer back on, I didn't realize that I only put the volume up as far as vibrate (which I don't normally use, because it's annoyingly loud). I only found that out when a call came in, and it vibrated, and I looked at it and touched the silent button. Which should have thus switched to a "vibrate" button, using logic, but someone, somewhere seems to have gotten mixed up.

Because "vibrant" does not mean the same thing.

I called myself, to be sure of what I'd seen, and had the camera to hand. Seriously? Vibrant?