Eight minutes into the new year, someone pissed me off. My cell phone woke me to to tell me I had a text message from an unfamiliar number. I went to bed at 9pm exhausted from working with my mom and fought to go to sleep. I think I had dropped off by midnight. It is now over three hours later and I am wide awake.

The message came from someone I have not given my cell phone number to. I am very careful about this because my cell phone is for my convenience, not other people’s. I thought I had made an LJ post about it when I first got the phone but I can’t find anything so I guess not.

I do not do txt messages. I have to pay for each message I receive and I make a point of telling people I give my cell number to not to text me. If I could block txt from my phone I would. The cost thing is a reason others should not text me. The emotional reason that is all mine is that it pisses me off. I feel like my wishes are not being respected and whoever is texting me is pushing my buttons (it doesn’t matter if it is rational or not, this is the result). I realize that it has started to become the norm to text people (it wasn’t in 2005 when I got the phone and the plan) and people need the info about not texting me before I can get justifiably mad so I make a huge point to let people know now. My next phone might include txting and I might go nuts with it. But that is not the case now.

My primary phone is my land line. That is where messages should be left for me and where it is most likely to actually contact me. The refrigerator is standing by (for those that have heard my outgoing phone message).

There are times it is appropriate to contact me via cell, like when we are playing tag trying to meet up or I have stated that I am about and about and want to talk. Certain people are ok to have my cell phone because they understand the appropriate times to call me on that phone. My mom got it for the first time this week because I didn’t want her to be able to get ahold of me at any time. Now that she is visiting, she needs to be able to connect with me.

I realize that the text I received was a wish for a Happy New Year and was meant as a positive thing but it was inappropriate and turned into a negative thing. I want to know who called me and I want them to delete my number from their phone so as to avoid this problem in the future. I am 95% positive it was a broadcast text to their entire friends list. I want to know who gave this person my cell phone number so I can ask them not to share this information in the future.

For the most part, I trust my friends’ discretion in handing out my home number (yes, I know, I am wired backwards from most people) but my cell number is only for me to hand out. I dragged my feet getting a cell phone. I eventually did it because of the need to be easy to contact in a timely manner by the temp agencies. I find I like having it on hand to call people to talk to when I am in transit from point A to point B. I talk to my dad a lot more because of this feature. I do not have a cell phone so that I can be at the disposal of whomever wants to get ahold of me whenever they want. That is what my landline is for.

I am going to try to pretend that this issue is just a last left over from 2009 so it can join all the other reasons that year has been fired. Maybe it was a parting shot and the year went out the door.

Edit: I own up to the fact that considering how my memory leaks like a sieve, I could very well have actually given out my cell to whomever it was that sent me the text and I ended up setting up the situation that pissed me off. They still should not be texting me but I may not have imparted that information onto them. I would want to know that as well.