Well this morning I was due to be visiting a work-related site with another team member. I was to pick him up from his road (didn’t have the number but didn’t matter as I knew which bit of the road and would have my phone). As I get to the road I notice my phone sat resetting itself constantly in the corner of the passenger seat. Hmmm. So I drive the road a few times (one way, PITA) looking for them assuming when they can’t phone me they’ll walk outside to find me at the allotted time. Nope. So after 10 mins we’re going to be late anyway so I head to the office to call from there and arrange a location. I get to the office but don’t have his mobile in hardcopy, it’s not on facebook or his business cards in his desk drawer, or on his staff contact page. So I email him, knowing his phone gets his emails, no reply. Then a call to the office phone asking where I am as he’s already there – he’d given it 10 mins and driven there himself. No problem, easy mistake to make – I’ll head off and meet him there. So I drive for 25 minutes to the location, pull up at the security gates and say I’m here to visit a certain company, my colleague has arrived 20 mins ago and I need to catch him up. I’m asked what building I’m visiting – no idea, it’s on my phone which is dead. Can I call him to ask – No, his number is only on my phone, which is dead. Can they help me figure out what building he’ll be in so I can contact the reception in that building – no. Can they call the buildings and ask which one I’m visiting, based on my reasons for visiting? No.

Return to office, stuck in traffic for 45 minutes on the motorway.

There’s lessons to be learned here.

Yep. We do hold a lot of stuff in those little boxes of fragile electronics!
I bet that was really frustrating! Thanks for the heads up though, and perhaps a push to become less reliant on my phone!

Frustrating is an understatement! I knew my phone was getting a bit tired, battery was starting to fade, but wasn’t expecting a complete death any time soon! Backup and sync frequently, and make damn sure you print details off on paper if you’re going to need them! Smartphones my bloody ass.

They always fail just when you really need them to work as well….
It never happens when you are browsing the internet at the weekend or phoning someone for a catch-up!

It always happens when you need it not to happen!

this is when google apps wins, as its not hardware dependant. Everything is in the cloud. I “washed” my phoen the other day. Annoying, but not the end of the world. All my data is still chez Google and all I need to do is put the sim in the spare phone and Im up again. In your situation you could use any internet enabled device to find the missing data.

[/smug]

+1 for google

Google doesn’t help when you’ve no device to access it though (i.e. your phone has dropped dead and you’d needing to be somewhere).

when you’ve no device to access it though

Indeed, but as I said you just need access to any device to get info – e.g. someone else’s phone or get someone at the office to login to your google account.

Indeed, again in this case wouldn’t have helped but certainly cloud computing does ease these issues a tad!

ah, sorry just twigged that you mean his phone number was just stored in your phone as a received call I guess, not a contact. Yeah?

Well this morning I was due to be visiting a work-related site with another team member. I was to pick him up from his road (didn’t have the number but didn’t matter as I knew which bit of the road and would have my phone). As I get to the road I notice my phone sat resetting itself constantly in the corner of the passenger seat. Hmmm. So I drive the road a few times (one way, PITA) looking for them assuming when they can’t phone me they’ll walk outside to find me at the allotted time. Nope. So after 10 mins we’re going to be late anyway so I head to the office to call from there and arrange a location. I get to the office but don’t have his mobile in hardcopy, it’s not on facebook or his business cards in his desk drawer, or on his staff contact page. So I email him, knowing his phone gets his emails, no reply. Then a call to the office phone asking where I am as he’s already there – he’d given it 10 mins and driven there himself. No problem, easy mistake to make – I’ll head off and meet him there. So I drive for 25 minutes to the location, pull up at the security gates and say I’m here to visit a certain company, my colleague has arrived 20 mins ago and I need to catch him up. I’m asked what building I’m visiting – no idea, it’s on my phone which is dead. Can I call him to ask – No, his number is only on my phone, which is dead. Can they help me figure out what building he’ll be in so I can contact the reception in that building – no. Can they call the buildings and ask which one I’m visiting, based on my reasons for visiting? No.

Return to office, stuck in traffic for 45 minutes on the motorway.

There’s lessons to be learned here.

and you expected the boss to pay you !!!!!!

Saved as a contact but it was 7am and no-one else was about to access anything for me.

and you expected the boss to pay you !!!!!!

Indeed, I don’t ask for payment for the 4 hours a day overtime that I do every day and the 9am-2am availability I normally provide over text so I’d say it’s fair 😀