Cell Phone Tales - Can You Hear Me Now?

Did Verizon overhear my conversation with my kids because now they are using my famous line “Can You Hear Me Now” in one of their television commercials? It’s the commercial where the Verizon technician walks around to different locations and asks “Can You Hear Me Now?” Could I possibly collect royalty payments from Verizon, since I was using the phrase before them?

Being a working mom means most of my parenting during the day has been conducted by way of a phone call to my kids at home. Count the number of times I use the phrase “Can you hear me now” in this phone conversation.

Hello, are you there. Can you hear me now? I ask.

“Yeah mom, I’m here”, moans my tired son. I don’t understand why he’s still tired as he’s just now crawling out of bed and it’s already early afternoon. I’ve been awake for half the day and feeling like I need a nap. Trying to be understanding, (after all he did work an eight hour shift and was getting home when I was going to bed), I politely say

“After you wake up and get something to eat would you please wash the dishes.” I’ve always heard that silence is golden, except from the person on the other end of the phone call.

“Did you hear that? Hello, can you hear me now?” I asked into the receiver.

“Yeah, I’m here mom,” my son replies.

“What are you doing?” I ask, hearing silence and thinking the connection has ended I ask,

“Can you hear me now?”

I hear a delayed answer “Oh yeah, I’m watching TV”, he says.

“Did you hear what I asked you to do?”

“Yeah, I heard it”

“Are you going to do it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it.

Arriving home after an exhausting drive from the end of a very long day I notice the dishes are still piled high in the kitchen and my son is sprawled out on the couch in front of the television.

“Why didn’t you do the things I asked you to?”

“What did you ask me to do?”

“I asked you to do the dishes.”

“You did?” he says with complete shock registering on his face.

“I called you from work.”

“You called me?” he seemed more puzzled than before. “Don’t you remember I kept saying can you hear me now?

I don’t remember talking to you mom, really I don’t.”

Now I’m wondering who I did talk to. I’m sure it was my son. I couldn’t have dialed a wrong number and gotten someone who sounded just like my son.

I think it’s time to change networks to “The Housekeeper” and never again would I have to say “Can You Hear Me Now?”

** Dear Reader **
How many times did I use the phrase, “Can You Hear Me Now?”

Let me know in a comment.

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