A remedy for journalistic irritation

Stuff like this used to happen. Till I cured it.

I phone someone.

Sorry, not here.
When are you expecting them?
Should be around in twenty minutes.
Okay, I'll ring back then. Thanks.

I get doing something else. A couple of hours later - curses. Slipped my mind. When I do call, they've gone to another meeting & I'm looking for another slot. Rats.

I tried things to remind me. Post-it notes round the monitor. Electronic post-it notes that cluttered up the screen itself, then screwed themselves up and chucked themselves in the bin as required. Mildly entertaining but too clunky.

Then I solved it. I started using the alarm timer on my mobile phone. Quick, easy and never lets me down. Plus, if I happen to be on another call when it rings, that caller hears it, figures I am being called on another line, and doesn't mind if I choose to ring off.

A curious reader ponders: Why not leave a message asking them to ring you back?

Answer: Because, you curious person, I am a freelance journalist. People who sit around waiting for the phone to ring are moon-struck daters or job applicants or something equally horridly passive. I am a hack of action. In control and fearsomely efficient. Brrring, brrring.

Les