# September Mini-Rants (Can't Even Be Bothered) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 1, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-mini-rants-cant-even-be-bothered/795239 "2017-09-01T12:11:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-mini-rants-cant-even-be-bothered/795239/201 "2017-09-30T18:49:55Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > One of my friends passed away abruptly this summer. ☹ Yesterday, his widow tweeted that she had just received a bill from his accountant - for the phone call she made to inform them of his death and that she would be the point of contact henceforth. Is it just me, or is that pretty tone-deaf? Holy crap. That is outrageous. Essential question: was this a one-person shop where she and hubby knew the guy personally? Or was it a big firm, and this bill was generated by 1) an automated process, or 2) a clueless clerical type? If this was a personal invoice from a personally known accountant, I’d fire his ass immediately. But I have a hard time believing that anyone would be that insensitive. If they were clients of a big firm, I can imagine a death notification generating some kind of automatic response that no one had the wit to intercept. In that case, she should definitely make her “contact” aware of this offense. I also might consider changing firms. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-mini-rants-cant-even-be-bothered/795239/202 "2017-09-30T20:04:00Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > My cell PHONE died. It was a cell PHONE. I used it as a PHONE, to get and receive PHONE calls. I tried to get it replaced. > > I guess the cell PHONE is a thing of the past. I now have a hand held device that does everything but clean the kitchen sink. > > I’ll use it as a PHONE. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Yes, and? Do you mean your previous PHONE didn’t have a camera attached, and your previous PHONE didn’t have texting capability, and your previous PHONE didn’t have internet access? What he means is that manufacturers seem to have forgotten that the original purpose of a cell PHONE is to make phone calls. They are downgrading that in favor of all this other stuff they’ve added. None of the current ‘smart’ phones have as good voice quality as the old flip phones of years ago. Remember voice quality? That is relevant to telephone calls – remember when cell phones were all about them? You can almost instantly tell when someone is calling on a cell phone now, due to the poor quality of the transmission & the sound. (They have to have caller id & special ring tones to tell who is calling – you sure can’t recognize their voice over that low quality connection.) It used to be that that would have been a deadly comment on a phone; now reviewers of new phones usually don’t even remember to mention voice quality. P.S. Annie – look for a cellphone specially designed for seniors or disabled people. They have them, with better voice quality, bigger buttons, & less distractions. But, of course, they charge more for them. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-mini-rants-cant-even-be-bothered/795239/203 "2017-10-01T04:36:05Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > None of the current ‘smart’ phones have as good voice quality as the old flip phones of years ago. Remember voice quality? That is relevant to telephone calls – remember when cell phones were all about them? You can almost instantly tell when someone is calling on a cell phone now, due to the poor quality of the transmission & the sound. Not really true. Most, if not all, current phones have Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and HD Voice capabilities that they use by default assuming the carrier network supports it on the particular tower you’re on at the moment. This provides much better voice quality than it used to be. However, calls between carriers won’t always support it all the way through, and that case, or calls to landlines, or non-VoLTE phones, etc, all involve converting and downgrading the codec in the middle on the fly, which can result in something that sounds worse. Additionally, many phones default or are set to use WiFi calling, which can mean that the call is carried over local Wifi instead of the cell network, which means quality can be affected by the crappy Netgear router installed in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-mini-rants-cant-even-be-bothered/795239/204 "2017-10-02T13:17:02Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Yes, and? Do you mean your previous PHONE didn’t have a camera attached, and your previous PHONE didn’t have texting capability, and your previous PHONE didn’t have internet access? No. It was a very old cell PHONE. Irreplaceable. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-mini-rants-cant-even-be-bothered/795239/205 "2017-10-02T14:56:23Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > **overlyverbose** I am sorry for your daughter’s broken finger and all that entails. I’m more concerned about your worry about a brain tumor. I really don’t have any advice, but I will worry with you if that helps at all. When are you going to get your eye pressures checked? Please do let us know when you have some news. I will hope that its just all some sort of strangeness going on in the mean time. Thanks for the well wishes. So far, so good - at least the eye pressure checked out well. I’m still getting blood work done. I’ve had small platelets in the past (or is it low platelets?). Anyway, I’m having that checked, too. It’s been a while since the blood work anyway. **digs** , that cracked me up - and I hope I can do my Arnold impersonation soon, too! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-mini-rants-cant-even-be-bothered/795239.md?page=10)