The Dao of Cellphones

Did you know that when your cellphone is working, it has profound effects on your life? Listen up...

I call my friend on my cell and the phone indicates that I am connected, but I can't hear anything. Later in the day, I call a restaurant. Again, the phone says I am connected, but I can't hear anyone. After the third time this happens, I realize the speaker in my phone is broken.

Later on in the evening, my friend Michael calls. I speak into the phone and tell him that I can't hear him, that my phone is broken, and that I'll call him back.

So, the next day I take the phone to the young cellphone fixer guy who has a little station in the corner supermarket. I tell him the problem with the phone and he looks at it for a minute. He tells me it will cost about $10 to fix and so I give it to him to fix.

I can see that he replaces a part and then he screws the casing back on, but there's something wrong. He does this several times. I'm worried that maybe I shouldn't get my cellphone fixed at the same place where I buy my soymilk. Finally, after waiting for over an hour, he gets it right.

It works, but the next day, someone calls me and says she can't hear what I'm saying. I hear her fine. It looks like my phone has a new problem. The speaker seems to be malfunctioning.

So, I decide to head back to the soymilk cellphone fixer and see what he says. I know he is going to be a little defensive. After all, it doesn't seem like this problem is related.

I tell him about the problem, and tell him I didn't have this problem before he worked on my phone yesterday. He, of course, is defensive, but I tell him to not worry. I tell him I will pay him to fix it. And so, he puts in a new microphone and doesn't charge me for labor. He is very kind and tells me if there's anything I need to come back.

For some reason, after these repairs, I feel more at peace. More clear, perhaps, because my cellphone has a new speaker and microphone.

I don't know, call it cellphone fengshui.