Fave 5
August 2, 2007

For the past several months Jared and I have either gone over our cell phone minutes or come really, really close to the limit. Based on the fact that I'm extraordinarily cheap and we're extraordinarily broke, the very idea of paying 40 cents a minute to talk on the phone makes me sweat like a fat man salsa dancing.

Not pretty.

In an effort to avoid this unneeded source of stress in our lives, Jared and I decided to switch to a new phone plan, T-Mobile's Fave 5. I'm sure you've all seen the commercials for this revolutionary new cell phone product. You pick five of your closest friends and the plan allows you to call them as much as you want without using up your minutes.

The plan seemed great, until I actually had to select my Fave 5. Unfortunately, T-Mobile never thought to warn me that this would be the most self-esteem-crushing experience I've had since that computer club keg party at UMaine.

Embarrassingly enough, I learned that I don't really have five "friends." Based on this discovery, this was the route I decided to take:

  • Friend one was Jared because we're married, and we talk from time to time.
  • Friend two was my sister. We talk on the phone sometimes, but she's my sister and I love her, so she was in.
  • Friend three was my mom. She has like 20 minutes a month on her cell phone, so we don't talk at length--we email more often--but she's the woman who brought me into this world, so she was in too.
  • Friend four was my best friend from high school, Maureen. We're both stay-at-home-moms and we complain to each other a couple times a week, so she made the cut.
  • And friend five was my sister-in-law Rebecca. We only talk when something excruciatingly embarrassing happens, but I really want to get to know her better, so on she went.

When I got my first Fave 5 bill, I wasn't looking nearly as happy as those schmuckers on the commercial. The bill was for $90. After combing through the charges, I had a bit of a revelation: it doesn't make sense to pick the five people you wished you talked to most often...in order to save any money you've got to pick the five people that you actually call the most. So this is what my new Fave 5 looks like:

  • Friend one is still Jared's cell phone, because I'm naggy.
  • Friend two is Jared at home, because I wasn't joking when I said I'm naggy.
  • Friend three is the weather hotline, because I'm awesome.
  • Friend four is the woman I work for--she likes to check in on me during the day, and occasionally we'll chat for a minute.
  • And friend five is my downstairs neighbor. She doesn't speak any English, and I can never remember her name, but I *think* I ordered some pillows from her--and I totally don't want her to use up my minutes when my order comes in. Between her English and my Spanish, it's gonna take a while to iron out those details.

So that's that. My self-esteem is completely shot, I'm not saving any money, and I have no idea why those pillows haven't come in yet. All I have to say is thank goodness for my neat, new phone--because my 'Charles in Charge' ringtone makes the pain seem totally, totally worth it.

9 comments:

Ian said...

LMAO! The weather hotline. You ARE awesome.

Anonymous said...

add 430 to my peak min. and you tell me why I went over last month?!!!

Brad and Rebecca said...

Okay, i didn't make the cut. Unfortunately, i am over my minutes as we speak and i have to last until Aug 7th in total isolated solitary confinment. this is a problem because i want to talk to you WAY more often. So, i am getting a land line in the next couple months. I am only looking into the unlimited long distance plans.... so keep one of those slots open because my new number will need to be on there!!!!

Amy said...

Fantastic....I want you in the fave 5 Beckers....get that landline!!!
Call me this weekend when it's free and we'll chat up a storm.

Katy Shamitz said...

yo, can i get moved up to friend #1?

Anonymous said...

I knew right away that the Fave 5 thing would raise issues for me - what if I didn't have five, what if they didn't want to be one of the five. Better just not to go there!

Michelle Glauser said...

I resisted T-Mobile for the longest time, just as I did with Apple. During the Costa Rica trip, we discovered that out of the three service providers we had, only T-Mobile worked, and we found out from the owner of that plan that her phone worked in CHINA too! I also happen to know that T-Mobile is the key provider in Germany, so give me a month or two.

Patty said...

I just noticed your "Wanna Be My Friend" blurb in the side column of your blog. That is seriously the funniest thing ever. How's that Friend Campaign working out for ya?

Amy said...

Patty...not so good. No one has stepped up to the plate yet.