No cell, no deal?
May. 22nd, 2002 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayI'm putting together an autonomous drilling proposal in response to an astrobiology call, due in 2 weeks. Fortuitously, my counterpart S at our robotics partner company is at the same conference this week in Washington.
After laboring overnight, I found a printer at the hotel and managed to sit down with S and go through the proposal. She seemed enthusiastic, interested, even slightly flirty. We worked out several issues. Fine. Then, as we were dispersing at the end of the day's sessions, S said that she would be out of the office until a week from tomorrow, and asked for my cellphone number so that she could contact me from various locations with her questions and suggestions.
I said that I didn't have a cellphone. After a look of bewilderment, her body language changed. S became wary, a bit distant... obviously my technical credibility had just suffered greatly due to my lack of a given communications appliance. "But, you travel so much... how can you work without one?" "I use payphones and e-mail -- NASA doesn't pay for cellphones, I'd have to get a personal phone."
At the next possible interval, S ditched me... just as she might have lost some loser in a bar. It wasn't subtle. Who knows what will happen to our drilling proposal, now? Sigh...
After laboring overnight, I found a printer at the hotel and managed to sit down with S and go through the proposal. She seemed enthusiastic, interested, even slightly flirty. We worked out several issues. Fine. Then, as we were dispersing at the end of the day's sessions, S said that she would be out of the office until a week from tomorrow, and asked for my cellphone number so that she could contact me from various locations with her questions and suggestions.
I said that I didn't have a cellphone. After a look of bewilderment, her body language changed. S became wary, a bit distant... obviously my technical credibility had just suffered greatly due to my lack of a given communications appliance. "But, you travel so much... how can you work without one?" "I use payphones and e-mail -- NASA doesn't pay for cellphones, I'd have to get a personal phone."
At the next possible interval, S ditched me... just as she might have lost some loser in a bar. It wasn't subtle. Who knows what will happen to our drilling proposal, now? Sigh...
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Couple options...
Date: 2002-05-22 04:49 pm (UTC)I am such a loser as well. Ever since I left the dot com over a year ago I haven't activated my cell phone in my own name. Now that work may be an hour comute, I suppose I will have to get a cell phone for the just because you never know what will happen situations. Especially driving so far. Personally I have survived not having a cell phone. But I always hate the fact that when I may be by someones house I want to call first rather than just showing up. So I end up not seeing my friends when I am driving through their town.
Trade offs.
I doubt your drilling proposal will suffer due to lack of cell phones. I mean heck, you wouldn't have been able to work on it if she didn't happen to be in the same area anyway right??
Re: Couple options...
Date: 2002-05-26 08:26 pm (UTC)True, it was opportunistic. And there are others at her company who might be interested...
when I may be by someones house I want to call first rather than just showing up
I still call, but find a gas station or convenience store for a payphone. $40/month is expensive for convenience...