The Witch strikes again.....

[Jester]

My older sister continues to prove that my selection of "The Witch" as her pseudonym here was stunningly accurate.

Apparently today she is getting a snow day. I know this because she sent out a text proclaiming it to be so. At 8:20 am my time.

Now, anyone who has known me five minutes will tell you, Jester is not a morning person. Even my mother won't call me before, say, 10 am. Actually, I trained Mom so well in college that she probably won't call me before noon!

But despite the fact that The Witch has known me longer than just about everyone on the planet, she texted me with this earth-shaking weather update 40 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. In typically Jesterish non-subtle fashion, I informed her that her inconsideration was stunning.

Can someone in the Denver area please hop on a snow plow and go push 40 foot high drifts on to this woman's car? Please?!?!

[blas]

Hearing you loud and clear, Jester.

Now I work a slightly different shift than you, and I AM up quite early..but I'm getting ready for bed. I sleep all afternoon and early evening. Anyone who has the nerve to call/text me in a nonemergency situation while I'm sleeping I've decided is going to suffer texts/calls from me at 3 or 4 am while they are sleeping.

What irriates me the most is when I get joke texts or chain texts....and my phone beeps and beeps.....STOP IT!

[Kittish]

See, this is exactly the reason my phone is set so that it does NOT beep or ring or make any other noise when someone sends me a text message. It vibrates. Once. IF I am awake, I will hear the subtle noise of my phone dancing on whatever surface it is resting on. If I am asleep, that noise will not be anywhere near sufficient to disturb my well earned rest. This simple alteration of my phone has saved numerous lives and ensured the continued health and well-being of several more.

In the case of a genuine emergency, people shouldn't be sending texts in any case, they should be CALLING.

[taurinejunkie]

I keep my phone on vibrate all the time, if only because my parents don't approve of my social interaction, and also because I can't possibly have my phone ring while I'm at work. I simply hope the slight noise of the vibration inside my pocket isn't loud enough for my parents to notice it. CWs or SVs noticing the buzz will also notice I don't react to it on the floor, but wait till break to go and get the message.

And I keep it close to my head in vibration mode at night so it does wake me up. I don't very much care about my level of sleep deprivation, if any.

[blas]

Kittish, unfortunately I have one of those phones that beeps at you in like 5-10 minute intervals when you don't answer the phone or text. I can't figure out how to stop it from doing that. If anyone wants to help, I have a Razor phone.

[Evil Queen]

Blas, to do that you would just have to turn off all sounds. The backlight will turn on any time the phone reminds you of the message/alarm but that's it.

The SO has a Razor. He stopped using it because there's a problem with the software.

[Gravekeeper]

I've never even met you and even I know not to bother you in the morning.

[AdminAssistant]

And if I could just keep BT from calling late at night.... He's a night owl, I'm...not. And I do. not. like. being. woke. up. EVER.

[draftermatt]

If I am asleep, that noise will not be anywhere near sufficient to disturb my well earned rest.

I wish I could say the same.

I have been woken up from a dead sleep from a phone vibrating which was down a set of stairs and across a room.

My mother likes calling at 9 AM Saturday mornings. She leaves for work shortly after.

Normally I don't mind, however when she knows my wife is off, she also knows she likes to sleep in.

It was really irritating when she knew we had gone to a concert the night before, but she still called at 9 to see how it was. We didn't get home till 3 that day!

[wagegoth]

One of my favorite things when I had a Nokia was being able to set a timed profile. I'd go to the movies and set the silent profile to run until a few minutes after the movie was over. I would set it on silent when I was napping. It would turn back to normal when the timer was up and I didn't worry that I'd miss calls that way. Why aren't all cell phones like this?

When Nokia announced they were considering going into the computer market, I told my husband that I'd buy one first choice, just because the phones were so user friendly, reliable and sensible.

[Jester]

Work today was amusing. I did an unscientific poll of various people, friends and coworkers....probably over a dozen of them. I asked them the following: "What is wrong with the following scenario: My phone went off at 8:20 am this morning from a text message sent to me by someone who knows me to tell me it was a snow day in Denver." Out of everyone I asked, all but 2 knew that the time factor was probably the worst part, most of them knew without question that the time factor was the worst part, and two of them actually cut me off after I said the time and said "THAT is what's wrong!" One of them was a good friend, but the other one was a manager who has only known me a few months, and I don't really interact with socially.

In other news, on my way to work I had a very heated text exchange with The Witch. She could not understand my strongly worded reaction, or why I was so upset. I shall see how delightful she is when I call her when I get home one night from the bars to tell her what a wonderful place Key West is at 4:30 am (2:30 am Denver time). She also made a point of telling me that HER phone does not wake her up for texts. Great. Her phone is superior to mine. Like I care. Look, I should not have to each and every night change my text alert status just to avoid annoying texts from people who should know better, ESPECIALLY when it is about something completely trivial that I could not possibly care two figs less about.

For those wondering (and I know some commented on this), I have my phone's ringers on when I am asleep for two reasons. 1. Power outages in Key West are frequent. My phone is my backup alarm clock. Of my six days of work, five of them are day shifts. So keeping my phone on is practical. 2. While it has never happened, I also want my (good) friends to be able to get a hold of me if they have an emergency. And despite what some people may think, sometimes it may be necessary to text rather than call. I am sure I could come up with several different scenarios for that one, honestly. And again, I am not turning the text alert off each and every night just because my fucking idiot older sister believes the world starts and ends with Her Royal Assness.

See, this is exactly the reason my phone is set so that it does NOT beep or ring or make any other noise when someone sends me a text message.

In the case of a genuine emergency, people shouldn't be sending texts in any case, they should be CALLING.

See above for comments on both.

I keep my phone on vibrate all the time, if only because my parents don't approve of my social interaction, and also because I can't possibly have my phone ring while I'm at work.

I don't live with my parents, and at work my phone is, in fact, on vibrate. However, I am not at work when I am home in bed sleeping.

I don't very much care about my level of sleep deprivation, if any.

I, on the other hand, very much do. While I only need about 5 hours of sleep a night, I value those hours, and they are especially important if I have been out drinking and work the next day. Those hours of beauty tolerable appearance rest have saved more than one life in the past.

And again, I cannot stress the fact that, whatever I may think of my sleep deprivation, it is still fucking rude for someone who has literally known me from the day I was born to send me such a trivial text message at an hour they know can only illicit, at best, a somewhat foul reaction and, more likely, a severely venomous reaction. Remember, kids, this is the same woman that managed to offend and alienate the only girl I've been engaged to within the first few minutes of meeting her. This is the same woman that managed to offend me more than anyone else ever has in my life. I'm not overly fond of her to begin with, and shit like this just adds to it.

And she wonders why I react to her antics the way I do.

I just got off the phone with my mother.

JESTER: "WHAT is wrong with your daughter?"
MOM: "Which one?"
JESTER: "Which one do I ever ask that question about?"
MOM: "Oh my. What has [The Witch] done now?
JESTER: [The whole story, etc, etc.]
MOM: (Upon hearing the 8:20 time frame) "That's not that unreasonable a time?"
JESTER: "For whom?"
MOM: "For most of the human race....other than you."
JESTER: "Precisely!"
MOM: "*I* know not to call you that early!"

And that conversation is when I introduced my mom to a phrase she had never heard before, when I told Mom that The Witch could "go piss up a rope." Mom, being the font of awesomeness that she is, said that it would be a lot tougher for a girl to do that.

I've never even met you and even I know not to bother you in the morning.

GK, as always, thank you for illustrating the point in ways few others could. Classic, my friend, classic.

[lupo pazzesco]

Ish. Sisters. can't deal with 'em, can't burn 'em in effigy on the front lawn without incurring all sorts of stupid legal snafus that'll just cramp your style and take a chunk of valuable time you could be using drinking/sleeping/reading/walking your goldfish outta your day...

Meh...

The She-beast will occasionally call at hours she KNOWS I'm asleep because I have to be up at the ass-crack of dawn, for the stupidest shit.

Example:

Her: Hey, Lupo! I was trying to upload pics on this stupid laptop and--
Me: She-beast, what time is it...?
Her: About 1:30 in the morning (2:30, my time)
Me: Are you bleeding, dying, or caught in a house fire...?
Her: No...
Me: Then don't call me this late unless you are!
Her: <insert random generic rant about my being a useless bitch, etc, etc, which I generally hang up on in the middle of>

And Jester, like you, I keep my cell phone turned on at regular volume at all times when I'm not at work or in class (on vibrate, then), for emergency purposes. Everyone else can respect and understand my schedule, since I'm very clear about it. Everyone but HER...grr.

I suppose the whole point of the rambling herein was to say I emphathize completely, both with the phone and sister concept.

[BethB]

Can someone in the Denver area please hop on a snow plow and go push 40 foot high drifts on to this woman's car? Please?!?!

Only if you push that much snow on my sister's car(lives in Denver too)!

[Jester]

Only if you push that much snow on my sister's car(lives in Denver too)!

If I had a snowplow and lived in the Denver area, I would gladly do it.

By the way, I have a crisp hundred dollar bill for anyone who actually will go put a huge snowdrift in front of my sister's house. Preferably right up to her car, trapping it.

Yes, I am absolutely fucking serious.

[bloodrose]

JESTER: "WHAT is wrong with your daughter?"
MOM: "Which one?"
JESTER: "Which one do I ever ask that question about?"
MOM: "Oh my. What has [The Witch] done now?
JESTER: [The whole story, etc, etc.]
MOM: (Upon hearing the 8:20 time frame) "That's not that unreasonable a time?"
JESTER: "For whom?"
MOM: "For most of the human race....other than you."
JESTER: "Precisely!"
MOM: "*I* know not to call you that early!"

And that conversation is when I introduced my mom to a phrase she had never heard before, when I told Mom that The Witch could "go piss up a rope." Mom, being the font of awesomeness that she is, said that it would be a lot tougher for a girl to do that.

Hrmm...my mother trained me and my brothers to never call anyone before 10am. On Saturday mornings, I'd check the clock repeatedly until 10 and then bam! on the phone. She preferred if we waited until after noon to call people. I just always thought it was rude to assume someone was up early just because you were. As one who frequently has insomnia that is only cured by the rise of the day star, sometimes 10am would be only 5 hours of sleep for me.