Other People

<rant>

Why do we have such a problem with doorbells?  Other people don't seem to have hassles with their doorbells.  We've been married just over 15 years and by my calculation we have owned somewhere in the vicnity of 5 different doorbells.  Every single one of them has gone bung.  I would estimate that of those 15 years, we have had a fully functioning doorbell for possibly 8 months tops.  

The pattern goes like this:

We buy a doorbell and install it.

It works for about a month.

It stops working.

We replace the battery in the door unit.  It works for a week or so, then it dies sop we conlcude it was the clone unit at fault..

We replace the battery in the clone unit.

It works maybe twice and that's it.

We leave the non-functioning doorbell on the door, sometimes with a card drawing attention to the non-functioning doorbell, for about 6-8 months, maybe longer.

I get a bee in my bonnet about the dead doorbell on the basis that Other People don't have problems with their doorbells.

I remove the non-functioning doorbell from the door and toss it and the clone unit.

We buy a doorbell.

It works for about a month...

Other People can't have these hassles with their doorbells or they'd go nuts.  Like me.

Other People don't seem to have hassles with their phones either.

Number of landline phones currently on the premises?  Three.

Number of properly functioning landline phones on the premises?  Zero.

Phone #1 rings appropriately, and the answering machine is a delight to behold, but the handset is dead.  Dead, dead, deadibones dead.  It worketh not.

Phone #2 doesn't ring.  It doesn't work it all.  It's sitting on the school desk in a pile of tangled phone cord.

Phone #3 doesn't ring either.  It sits on its little pedestal with the little red light blinking proving that it's on, but it doesn't ring.  We have to rely on Phone #1 to know when the phone is ringing.

BUT, as soon as you pick up Phone #3 and remove it from the pedestal, it rings!

Other People cannot possibly have to go through these telecommunications gymnastics in order to take a simple phone call.  They'd go mad!  Like me!

These are about our third phones since moving to this house 10 years ago.  I don't know about you, but three sets of phones in 10 years seems a bit excessive.  I'm going to replace the batteries in the handsets of the non-working units and see if we have phone action again.  If not, then it's onto set number 4.

Other People cannot possibly find this so hard.

</rant>