Aunt Jemima's Revenge: Dad Smashes Up Daughter's Cellphone Over $4,756.25 Bill For Text Messages

Friday, April 10, 2009

Why in the hell does a thirteen-year-old have a cellphone in the first damn place?

11 comments:

msladyDeborah, April 10, 2009 at 6:41 AM: Professor Tracey,

My thirteen year granddaughter has had a cell phone for about three years. It is not that uncommon for school age children to have a cell.

It was purchased for her by her mom and dad. We had a discussion about this prior to them giving it to her. She participates in a lot of different activities. This is one way that we can get in touch with her or for her to call us.

There are very few pay phones available due to the increase of cellphones. There have been times when she has had emergencies and her phone has been a valuable tool.

She was taught early on about how to use her phone. She screwed up a couple of times and got the blues for doing so.

I suspect that this child's parents do not realize that the up and coming generation of tekkies consider a cell their mini computer, phone and life center.

But I have found that I feel far better with her having her own phone than to be without one.
Shurl, April 10, 2009 at 9:14 AM: Isn't there a way to put limits on these things?
michaelTO, April 10, 2009 at 12:14 PM: I'm with you Professor. Why in the heck does a child NEED a phone. I have three kids and my eldest got his OWN phone at eighteen. Now my fourteen year old is pushing to get a phone but I'm adamant about withholding this device until SHE can pay the bill. At the age of fourteen she does not need to be OUT in the street anyway. And if she is then chances are one of her friends have a phone for her to use. It's like kids hanging out in the mall and ain't got any money. Hang out at home with a book.

If my child had run up a bill that large I would busted more than just a phone.
RainaHavock, April 10, 2009 at 9:38 PM: Wow I didn't get my first cell phone until I was high school!
Gloria, April 11, 2009 at 1:10 AM: @ Shurl,

Yes there is. As a matter of fact when I bought cell phones for my daughters, the first thing the agent asked was their ages and whether or not I wanted to place restrictions on the minutes as well as texts.

Folks it's a new day and age. I for one didn't my first cell phone until I was an adult and I paid for it myself.

I gave my daughters phones for safety reasons. Both are "latch-key" kids and I want to know when they leave school, and get home. My youngest is the first to get home and I get a call like clockwork. We live in a gated golfing community but every time they walk out the door they have their phones. Besides that, you never know what's about to pop-off at school these days!

Parenting is a full time job. In this situation if it wasn't that high azz phone bill, it would've been something else.
Anonymous, April 12, 2009 at 1:28 PM: LOL Cell phones were the size of the yellow pages when I was in high school. I definitely didn't have one. A lot of kids today do have their own phone. I'm amazed the dad in this situation didn't have the foresight to get a plan with text messaging included. Clearly his daughter was wrong and hopefully she lost her privilege to have her own phone and possibly an allowance. She needs to do a lot of babysitting to help pay for that bill.
Unknown, April 12, 2009 at 4:57 PM: Many children have cell phones. Out of my daughters, my first three were 16 and over before they received a phone; my 16 year old received hers at 14 as a hand me down from an older sister that was too 'grown' to remain on my plan; my 10 year old has one from my ex- but it's a Trac with limited minutes and I strictly monitor when she uses it and where she goes with it, it's for emergencies because in our house we no longer have a house phone- no need.

He did the right thing, but he still has a bill to pay.

What's wrong with a company sending you a message or calling you when your bill becomes unusually high or excessive? They should have made an attempt to see if he was aware of this.

Ultimately this was his fault for not monitoring her behavior.
ch555x, April 13, 2009 at 2:56 PM: LOL! That should be a commercial...and yeah, I didn't get my first cell until after college...ROFL!
Anonymous, April 13, 2009 at 4:13 PM: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! This is priceless! I had a cell phone in middle school. My parents were rightfully worried after Columbine hit. I was the first amongst my friends to have one and it felt good.

I ran up my parents' HOUSE phone bill about $1,000 making long distance calls to my first love in Senegal ... if they could smash the house phone into my ass, I'm sure they would've done so.
GoldenAh, April 14, 2009 at 11:31 AM: I don't know who their service provider is - I didn't read the story details - but the company I subscribe to has "unlimited texting." My guess is that the parents and dumb teenager weren't aware of these types of features.

I saw my friend's cell phone bill and I mentioned the same thing to her: either get the shut off feature or use unlimited time. The phone company should warn people after a certain amount.
Anonymous, April 20, 2009 at 7:09 PM: Thank YOU!!!! Why the hell DOES a 13 yr. old have a cellphone????
I have 4 children. The two oldest got cell phones when they moved out on their own. The two teens still at home. No phones. Sorry but I'm totally old school. Concentrate on school and heading to college, forget the texting and sexting and downloads. It's not happening, at least not in my house!