During our recent visit to my dad, aged 88, nearly 89, I discovered a few things.
For starters, my sister replaced my dad's old house phone/answering machine combination with a new fangled cordless phone. Now I'll agree that the old system needed replacing. To give you an idea of how old the phone was, the answering machine used two large sized cassette tapes. The voice on the greeting is mine. I recorded that greeting while in Florida for my moms funeral, 18 years ago. I know for a fact that mom bought the system used at a yard sale at least 5 years before her death. Still, Dad couldn't figure out the new phone and sister didn't take the time to explain it to him, so he tossed it in a closet and went back to using the old one. We bought dad a new one designed for hearing and/or sight impaired folks. I spent a day explaining how to use the new phone, plus left written easy to understand directions.
Dad also has a new microwave. The old one died a couple of months ago. I remember going to Sears to buy the old one, called a "radar range" back then, with my parents the summer I turned 16 (I'm 48 now). I'd say they got good service out of it. Only problem with the new one, it's so complicated that dad couldn't use it to do the one thing he uses a microwave for; heat up his coffee. I showed dad how to do that and showed him a little trick to cooking a good hot dog in the microwave. Wrote down directions for that too.
Bought dad a weather alert radio to ease his recent obsession with bad weather. Yep, instructions written, although the radio is super simple to use.
THEN I FOUND OUT THAT DAD WAS RECENTLY STRANDED ON THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY WHEN HE HAD A FLAT. This meant that he had to walk down a major dangerous (they don't call it bloody 27 for nothing) road to obtain help. I asked him about a cell phone. It seems one of my sisters had already bought him one, but it was too complicated and nobody took the time to explain it to him; so he sent it back to her.
I talked my dad into letting me set him up with one of those easy-to-use, no bells and whistles, just calls cell phones for elderly folks. Told him I'd get all the information about one, check out the better business ratings on the companies, etc., when I got home (and had internet access) and call him about it.
I just got off the phone with my dad. I explained the cell phone ordering process, the usage information and how we'll go about setting him up with one, repeatedly. Then...
Dad asked me about the new phone directions again. Then the hot dogs, then the weather radio and then....
Back to the cell phone again.
I love my dad. He cracks me up!! And if it weren't for him, I'd have no patience at all.
For starters, my sister replaced my dad's old house phone/answering machine combination with a new fangled cordless phone. Now I'll agree that the old system needed replacing. To give you an idea of how old the phone was, the answering machine used two large sized cassette tapes. The voice on the greeting is mine. I recorded that greeting while in Florida for my moms funeral, 18 years ago. I know for a fact that mom bought the system used at a yard sale at least 5 years before her death. Still, Dad couldn't figure out the new phone and sister didn't take the time to explain it to him, so he tossed it in a closet and went back to using the old one. We bought dad a new one designed for hearing and/or sight impaired folks. I spent a day explaining how to use the new phone, plus left written easy to understand directions.
Dad also has a new microwave. The old one died a couple of months ago. I remember going to Sears to buy the old one, called a "radar range" back then, with my parents the summer I turned 16 (I'm 48 now). I'd say they got good service out of it. Only problem with the new one, it's so complicated that dad couldn't use it to do the one thing he uses a microwave for; heat up his coffee. I showed dad how to do that and showed him a little trick to cooking a good hot dog in the microwave. Wrote down directions for that too.
Bought dad a weather alert radio to ease his recent obsession with bad weather. Yep, instructions written, although the radio is super simple to use.
THEN I FOUND OUT THAT DAD WAS RECENTLY STRANDED ON THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY WHEN HE HAD A FLAT. This meant that he had to walk down a major dangerous (they don't call it bloody 27 for nothing) road to obtain help. I asked him about a cell phone. It seems one of my sisters had already bought him one, but it was too complicated and nobody took the time to explain it to him; so he sent it back to her.
I talked my dad into letting me set him up with one of those easy-to-use, no bells and whistles, just calls cell phones for elderly folks. Told him I'd get all the information about one, check out the better business ratings on the companies, etc., when I got home (and had internet access) and call him about it.
I just got off the phone with my dad. I explained the cell phone ordering process, the usage information and how we'll go about setting him up with one, repeatedly. Then...
Dad asked me about the new phone directions again. Then the hot dogs, then the weather radio and then....
Back to the cell phone again.
I love my dad. He cracks me up!! And if it weren't for him, I'd have no patience at all.
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