It’s gone!

For the last 26 months, I’ve lived life shackled. Wherever I went, whatever I was doing, I was chained. Whether I was in the office or on vacation, I was never without a constant reminder of my indentured status. Yesterday, however, I was able to cast off the cruel instrument of my oppression. The dreaded pager:

The Cruel Instrument of My Oppression

The Ever-Present Shackle

The department finally decided that it wasn’t worth their while to continue to pay for our two way text pager service. It’s a smart call on their part, too, since they were mostly used to set up where and when the RDs would gather for lunch, to see if people wanted to grab a drink, and other such social uses.

They’ll be using our personal cell phones to contact us now. While this still puts us within constant reach usually, it’s much less oppressive. I can turn off my personal cell phone, or choose not to answer it as I see fit, and that’s ok. With the pagers, they had to be always on and with us.

Still, a part of me is sad to see the pager go. I suppose I became accustomed to having the little guy with me everywhere. It was neat to be able to get all the sports scores and uselessly vague news headlines of the hour. And while I never quite grew to love the pager, I certainly at least became a little fond of the damned thing.

Goodbye Mr. Pager, and good luck with your next victim.

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