Can I use your phone? March 13, 2008

There was no hidden camera as far as I could tell. Normally when something like this happens you expect some host of a show to jump out from behind a bush and say some cheesy catch line. Well.. I don’t know, maybe “normally” is the wrong word, since that has never actually happened to me.

I’m on my way home from work on the bus and I jump off at my stop, along with maybe 6 other people. I immediately start walking towards my apartment. After about 20 feet I hear someone yell “HEY”. I don’t know anyone around here so I assume it’s for one of the other 6 people. Then there’s another “HEY!”. I check my pockets, “Nope, didn’t drop anything. There’s my wallet, phone…” “HEY! YOU!” So I give in and I stop and turn around.

And sure enough she was talking about me. There was a rather big girl wearing non-matching clothes (hot pink, too short sweat pants and a blue sweat shirt) running towards me waving her arms. I wave back and she shouts as she runs, “Can I use your phone?” She says this as she clearly has a cell phone open in her hand. She must have seen the confusion in my face and added, “They shut mine off.”

So I assumed she probably needed to call someone for a ride, or maybe just to inform family that she’s O.K. and just has no phone right now. So I say sure and hand her my phone.

“Woah… you gots one of them high tech ones.” It’s a blackberry pearl. She dials a number and I kid you not, this is the conversation:

“Hey. ’sup? … nothin’. you try to text me? … oh. So what you doin’? … uh-huh. … Oh, ’cause they shut me off, this is some guy’s. … ’cause rent is more important, don’t you think? … No, I don’t know him. … He’s standing here. … uhhh… Yeeeeeah… prolly. Ok, bye.”