Crazy for a Cell Phone?

I may be one of the few holdouts in this country to say that a cell phone is not a necessary object. I rarely ever have mine on, when I can even remember to take it with me, and when it isn't with me, I rarely remember where I left it.

Having said all that, I lost my cell in Vegas while trying on the sweatshirt I bought Luke (it might have been poetic justice for coveting his old sweatshirt that I was hoping to replace with a new and improved "Not made in China" Vegas CSI one). I did not realize that I lost the phone until the next day as we were packing to leave and simultaneously tearing apart the hotel room in a desperate attempt to find this nonessential device.

It should have been no big deal that I lost it in the first place, after all, I rarely used it and I had been meaning to switch to a prepaid plan eventually.

But the fear set in! The, "What if our flight is late, how will Luke know?" or the "What if someone really important is trying to call me now?" or "What if I'm bored at the airport despite the three books I brought with me?" or, the original (?) reason for getting a cell in the first place, "What if my car breaks down late at night and I am surrounded by a pack of starving wolves in the wilderness of a major East Coast highway?" Whatever will I do?

It was so ridiculous! I drove cross country without a cell phone (after WonderTurtle and I parted ways) and did a zillion other everyday things without one...even broke down late at night several times without a cell phone.

Now, about to leave Vegas, I was angry and inconvenienced. Oh, and there is this damn boycott to consider!

It took me weeks to make up my mind about a prepaid phone and conversations ad nauseum with Luke about it. Before the boycott, I would have purchased the cheapest, shinniest red one without any regard for where it was made. Not so much luck this time.

Now, the fact that we live in a rather rural area, on top of a mountain off an interstate means that we get spotty coverage at best, unless you have a Boost mobile phone, as my lover does.
That would seem to solve the problem, right? Get a Boost phone and get over it.

Do I need to mention that they are all made in China? We discovered this by going above and beyond the rules of the boycott, which state that the packaging must declare where the product is made and/or reasonable efforts must made made to discern its origins. None of the exterior packaging stated where the Boost phones were made.

We discovered where they were made as the sales associate, who did not laugh at my dilemma, was calling Boost to see where the phone I was considering was made. To pass the time, I suggested that we look at the battery inside the phone. I promptly became angry at what I discovered. Irrelevant are the facts that I did not like the phone in the first place, I would rarely, if ever, use it in the basement where Luke's phone gets great coverage, and, oh, yeah, I don't need the damn thing in the first place!

Further investigation on my own consisted of calling Boost and discovering that all their phones are made in China. I was pleasantly surprised however, that the person helping me did not think my boycott was a laughing matter. This was not the case at the T-Mobile store. The salesperson there thought the concept was quite laughable. Offended, I left the store.

I wish I could say that I gave up the quest for a phone altogether, but that would be a lie.

I kept the search going for weeks (I think it helped me avoid thinking about the more serious issues in my life, such as finding a job!).

My sister offered to put me on her family plan where I knew I'd have coverage and a free phone, therefore not technically subject to the rules of the boycott, since I wasn't buying the phone.

Luke and I went to several stores looking for the elusive "Made in Mexico" or "Made someplace other than China" phone. We discussed my options late at night while lying in bed (and people think I'm a nympho!) we fought about it, or rather, I yelled at him a lot about it since he has a working, purchased before the boycott, made in China phone.

The entire situation was ridiculous! I wanted a red, prepaid flip phone made in Mexico or Korea and all I could find were red flip phones made in China or Taiwan (which I boycott and Luke does not) or a few castoff old phones made in Mexico or Korea that I did not like.

I am embarrassed to admit that in the end I did not have the guts, the wherewithal, the something to forgo the cell phone altogether. I think part of that is because I don't want to be seen as a bigger weirdo than I all ready am. Crazy boycott or not, I still crave some level of social acceptance...isn't that what drives consumerism in the first place?

I'm even more embarrassed to admit that I went back to the same T-Mobile store where I was laughed at and purchased my silver, prepaid, not a flip phone, there. I don't even really like this phone but, but, but it has the cheapest minutes even though it gets spotty coverage where I live and this salesperson was very helpful, if slightly amused at the boycott. I also got the car charger for free because I did enough research before hand to know that T-Mobile.com was giving away an additional $25 in air time if you bought a phone over the Internet. They didn't have the same deal at the store, but the manager was willing to give me the car charger for free, which is $25. The associate and I looked over the external packaging and checked the computer to see where the car charger was made and found nothing.

I left the store with a phone I don't like, the included $10 in air time, of which I've used less than half the minutes nearly a month later and a free car charger for my dying car that has "Made in China" sticker inconspicuously stuck inside the packaging. My phone is probably downstairs right now, I think, and I've made a whopping two calls on it since I bought it.

Did I do all of this for social acceptance?