If you can’t call, wait till you can!

The only thing more annoying than a habitual beeper is a habitual beeper who beeps you on a number you do not know. I promised myself I would never call back anyone who beeped me on a strange number but some people beep you so devotedly that you have no choice but to call back.

Thursday, May 17, 2012
Rachel Garuka

The only thing more annoying than a habitual beeper is a habitual beeper who beeps you on a number you do not know. I promised myself I would never call back anyone who beeped me on a strange number but some people beep you so devotedly that you have no choice but to call back.Then as if the exasperation of calling back a beeper isn’t enough, you then realize that the beeper beeped the wrong number. I always think of myself as polite and courteous but when I’m beeped like there is no tomorrow, only for me to call back and find out I do not even know the damn person, I get aggressive.One time, this guy beeped me so many times; I feared for my battery. Seeing as it was a strange number, I did not wish to call back. But the irritation of my phone calling for a jiffy then off was too much to bear. So I called the chap back. When I told the guy he had dialed the wrong number, he enraged me further by yelling at me and saying I should never have called back if it was a wrong number! Are you kidding me? How was I supposed to know it was a wrong number? I simply called back thinking it was someone I knew. So much for courtesy!It was then that I decided that I would never again entertain beepers, whether they beeped me using familiar numbers or not. Seriously, it was cool when we just got phones in high school and were all too ready to beep. Right now, it is just annoying. I know someone whose obsession with beeping went so far that she couldn’t bring herself to do anything but beep. I was baffled when someone was kind enough to send her airtime worth Rwf 5000 and instead of calling back to say thank you, she beeped! When the person called back (thinking it hadn’t loaded) she shamelessly said thank you. If you do not have money to make a call, then send a text. Texts go for about 10 francs if I’m not mistaken. Tigo lets customers borrow airtime and maybe MTN is thinking about it. If a teenager beeped me, that would be okay because the number of times I beeped when I was that age, enjoying my new phone, is alarming! But we grow out of it. As you grow, the beeping declines and you learn to respect people better by actually calling them as opposed to beeping.I guess now is as good a time as any to say that my phone is allergic to beepers. I love you but if you do not have the money to call, please wait until you do. As for the ones who go on beeping wrong numbers, heed my warning and stay away from mine.