Fascinating discussion, this. In the military there's an axiom: "If the the government wanted you to have a life, they'd issue you one."
But, even given that, there is some attention to designating one person "on call" for a set time to handle urgent matters.
I remember going into work at 5 a.m. my time to talk to Washington where it was 8 a.m. Interestingly, they left at 5 or 6 p.m. their time, so things would quiet down on my end after 2 p.m. I remember phone calls at home around midnight, but it really was urgent and the next day's operation hinged on a decision. So I did it. All this was before cell phones.
Now we are retired and have a cell phone and like Rac's parents, the kids can reach us anytime, anywhere, any hotel/condo/airport. But we don't spend a lot of time chatting on it. I spend more time here on the boards and irc.
I do have a favorite story of mine about the excesses of cell phone use. I had just finished a meeting in Tucson, Az and was at the airport to fly home. The line at America West was out the door with people like me, tired and wanting to get home. A lady with 2 kids finally gets up to an agent and she's talking to a friend/sister/whatever on her cell phone. She keeps talking while she is in front of the agent. He is waiting to hear the flight she wants to go on. She keeps talking on her cell and gestures to her 10 year old son to give the agent the tickets. He says "I don't have any tickets".
The line starts to get restless. Departure time is approaching for a lot of us. Finally the agent says to the woman, "Ma'am. I need your full attention. You need to put down the cell phone."
She says "Just a minute" to the cell phone, then starts yelling at her son "I told you to go into the den to get the tickets!" Now the success of the whole trip is riding on the shoulders of a 10 year old boy with the mother taking no responsibility. She continues talking to her friend about a dress for some occasion. The agent still doesn't even know the flight she wants. He repeats, "Put down the cell phone." She doesn't. He gets the supervisor over, she hauls the family away to get their tickets taken care of and the agent gets to the next person in line. The woman is still talking about the dress on the cell phone.
This was all very loud and we in the line turned and eyed each other and shook our heads in mystery.
And yes, I made the plane just fine.
Artemis
