when/why we first got caller i.d. at home.....

This might be hard to believe, but the phone feature "caller ID" was once a novel thing. Now it's pretty commonplace, but it used to be pretty unique. Back in the late 90's we thought about getting it to ward off telemarketers, but that wasn't what ultimately caused us to purchase caller ID.

I used to have a boss that liked to call my house in the evenings and at night. She would call and ramble on and on about things at work. And she wasn't always sober. And when she wasn't sober, she'd mix in things that had nothing to do with work. I'd usually come out of the conversation with a confused look on my face. The bride could always tell when the boss would call. I'd roll my eyes and walk away to another part of the house.

Call ID cost something like an extra $10 a month at the time. Not only did I not make enough money to listen to after-hours rants, I didn't make enough money to justify caller ID. But we got it anyway. Best $10 a month we ever spent.

It was the most valuable during UT's national championship game January 1999. With everything that was going on in the game, back and forth, I'm pacing, doing my obligatory screaming and yelling - the phone rings. My first thought was, "What idiot would be calling me during the national championship game???" I had my answer when I looked at the caller ID box. It was the boss.

At first I got really mad. Then the bride reminded me that because of caller ID, I was able to let it ring and know that I wasn't missing an important call. She left a somewhat slurred message about the game. The next morning she asked me if I got the message. I lied and said we'd been having trouble with our answering machine.

From that point on I didn't answer the phone whenever I saw her home number on the caller ID box. If it was a real emergency, she'd leave a message and I could call back. But blind-sided calls ceased to exist from there on out.

I learned alot from that job. And I readliy admit that I wouldn't be doing what I do now without the experience I gained there. But I can honestly say I don't miss working for that boss one bit.....