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Part of my human experience may include checking how the babysitter is doing with the kids. I'm not going to do that in a way that disrupts the show, but I sti

Part of my human experience may include checking how the babysitter is doing with the kids. I'm not going to do that in a way that disrupts the show, but I still want that access.

ManuelKiessling 9y ago
How did people do that before there were cell phones?
- davb 9y ago
  My folks used the payphones at most venues to call our landline and speak to the babysitter.
  - whatyoucantsay 9y ago
    It's interesting they didn't have confidence in the babysitter's ability to take care of you for an evening but still chose to hire them and then monitored them via payphone. Most times when babysitters are hired, now or a generation ago, they're trusted to make reasonable decisions so the parents don't have to worry.
    - ccallebs 9y ago
      > It's interesting they didn't have confidence in the babysitter's ability to take care of you for an evening but still chose to hire them and then monitored them via payphone. No one questioned the babysitter's competence. They're your children -- you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going.
      - blattimwind 9y ago
        Uhm, yes you are, and pretty clearly at that.
        scoggs 9y ago
        No, not really. If someone goes out for drinks, then dinner, then a show and the night is going really well maybe the parents want to call and check in. They want to see how the nights going for the babysitter and kid. Are the kids asleep? Is the babysitter content to make some more money for a few extra hours? I think that's all entirely reasonable. It really has little to do with the matter at hand but having to wait in a line to submit or retrieve your phone, be sequestered to a penned in area to use your phone, and then to have to wait in line again to put your phone back into that "prison" system again seems like overkill. I know that's the only way we've been able to identify that works but I don't think there is any surefire method that will not only please the artists / performers and keep the viewers / fans / people in attendance happy.
        DrScump 9y ago
        "...having to wait in a line to submit or retrieve your phone, be sequestered to a penned in area to use your phone, and then to have to wait in line again to put your phone back into that "prison" system again..." The vast majority of the time consumed in that process is simply getting out from where you sit/stand and back, which is the same in the "unjailed" phone scenario. Unless, of course, you were just going to go ahead and conduct that call right there in the venue anyway.
        scoggs 9y ago
        I'm thinking about how annoying this would be at any sort of venue or music event. Someone said prior the main reason they'd use their phone in that situation is to group up with others they came with or met there if they get split up. I can empathize with that 150% and feel that, as someone who will never do more than snap a quick photo of a musical act for nostalgic purposes, the system in place to leave your phone locked up like coat check is mostly just annoying. It all reminds me of DRM causing problems for legitimate, paying customers when the DRM should only be targeting those who go outside of the rules. That's where someone else's comment about treating everyone like adults and kicking people out who break the rules seems like the best bet, although they also admitted (and I agree) that this system just doesn't work as needed, either.
      - musage 9y ago
        > They're your children -- you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going. If you think that's "obvious", then explain why. Because as you put it, it's just false, not everybody does that. Not every kid would stand for it, either. For one because the competence of a babysitter includes handling emergencies, making the practical use of randomly "checking in" (from some remote location) moot, but what's more, it's randomly checking in -- and not actually trusting the competence of the babysitter and having a cell phone with you so they can call you when there is a problem (you can actually help with). Don't dress up neediness as utility and wisdom, badly.
        2bitencryption 9y ago
        > not everybody does that. Not every kid would stand for it, either. I see we're dealing with a tough kid here
        musage 9y ago
        Anything you care to actually address? Lots a clicks, the only words are unintentionally ironic. How come? I mean, at least it's picture perfect, down to how you're not dealing with what I said, and comfort yourself about it. The less of you get that the more there is for me. Jealous because you didn't turn around sophistry on adults even as a little one? Not a very intelligent and lively childhood followed by an adulthood doomed to cowardice, is that it? No parents who treated you as a person so you never felt the need to conform to abusive adults? Or just didn't happen to have the mental strength to go along with that? But of course, I can't be personal in response to a personal attack, how dare I. My original comment was horribly wrong for reasons so foul they can't even be pointed out, but your ankle biting reply to it is just fine, heh.
        hluska 9y ago
        Please stop with the overly dramatic, wordy writing - you've taken an extremely interesting conversation and turned it into a cesspool.
      - gsich 9y ago
        You do by phoning home without reason.
      - whatyoucantsay 9y ago
        > you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going Yes. If you suffer from high levels of anxiety and don't trust your own decisions about who to trust, this is true. Many people, particularly Americans, are this way. It is not true for every parent, however.
        salvar 9y ago
        Out of curiosity, do you have children?
        corvallis 9y ago
        I’m not the above poster, but I did babysit for several families in my grad school years a few years ago. The parents would not generally communicate with me when they were out. If they did, it would be to let me know they’d be early or late, and suggestions for food or activity if they were late. There wasn’t a routine check to make sure their kids were alive & well.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - vageli 9y ago
    Did they not have to wait in a queue of other parents who were similarly concerned? Sounds par for the course in that case.
- j_s 9y ago
  >How did people do that before there were cell phones? Trust the babysitter to make wise choices. This is actully really tough as cell phones end up lowering the standard expected of babysitters, like the whole GPS/map thing.
- dazc 9y ago
  'How did people do that before there were cell phones? reply' I used to sit for my nieces and nephews before mobiles were in common usage. My sister would give me the number of the place they were going in case there was a problem. Of course, this was useless if they had gone to somewhere where there may be more than a couple of dozen people? So, in reality, people used to hire baby sitters and just trust them to be able to cope. It's not as if you could do much from the other end of a phone if there actually was an emergency?
- lucozade 9y ago
  Babysitting probably isn't a great example, but cellphones affect the process of communicating so, unless you're expecting not to have the phone on you, it can actually be detrimental when you don't. The main difference is that you tend to plan less up front. When our children were younger, and we had babysitters, we'd point out where the obvious stuff was but if they needed something, they'd just text. You just don't bother with the 15 min tour that I'd have got when I was doing the babysitting. As a tangential, vaguely amusing, anecdote. A few years ago, my eldest's phone was a bit dodgy and kept cutting out. He was going to meet up with my wife in town but was meeting friends first. The two of them, my wife and son, spent about 5 minutes trying to work out how they could contact each other. I, genius that I am, proposed a radical solution. I suggested that they arrange to meet at an agreed time and place. It had been such a long time since this was necessary that it hadn't even occurred to my wife (for which I still won't let her forget). My son had never, in his 15 odd years at the time, needed to do this.
dblohm7 9y ago
Is that really necessary? Our parents didn't have that luxury, and we turned out fine...
- spac 9y ago
  Except for all the cases in which things didn't turn out fine, but would have if a cellphone had existed, and that you never really heard about. (minor grammar edit)
  - dblohm7 9y ago
    Nonetheless, humanity was not wiped out by the absence of phones.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Our parents didn't have that luxury Yes, they did; before ubiquitous cellphones killed demand for them, basically every public place of any size (and many small ones, and even just public streets) had banks of payphones, and for many kinds of outings people would leave the phone number of the restaurant or other establishment that they were going to for emergency contact in the other direction. The last generation that didn't have that “luxury” was whichever one was before landlines were ubiquitous.
  - Angostura 9y ago
    People really didn't go to a phonebox to phone the babysitter, though.
    - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
      They did.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      Yes, they really did. Both when I was the baby-sat and, years later, when I was the baby sitter. Though more likely about an unexpected delay or need that was omitted in prior communication than just a check-in, IME.
DrScump 9y ago
checking how the babysitter is doing with the kids ...in which case you would simply walk out to the lobby and tap the case on any unlocking base.
Theodores 9y ago
I spent my whole teenage babysitting, half a dozen regular gigs and also for families in holiday homes. Not once was there a situation where I needed to call the parents or vice-versa. I suppose they have guns in America so maybe you do need to worry about the kids being SWAT raided or kidnapped. However, the general idea is that the parents go out, drink loads of alcohol and come back around 3 a.m. to be hungover the next morning. Meanwhile, the deal the kids struck with the babysitter was a simple one - they could stay up as late as they wanted just so long as they pretended to be asleep if mummy and daddy come back early. The next morning the kids sleep in and everyone is happy. So you have to let go. Trust the babysitter. Trust your seven year old daughter to try and stay up extra late by showing the babysitter daddy's secret porn collection, hidden behind the antiquarian book collection but all too easy to find for an adventurous child. Of course none of these things or the strange noises the parents make in bed get to be an issue, you just pay babysitter and make them feel welcome and all is good. So Jack White is right.
- stuaxo 9y ago
  No idea why you are downvoted for this.
ThomPete 9y ago
Then you don't go to the show. Sorry but you talk about checking in on the babysitter as if it's some universal law. It's not you don't have to, and if you feel like you can't go out and enjoy a show without checking in then don't go to the show. And yes I have kids.
- Mithaldu 9y ago
  Why do you believe FYGM is an appropriate response?
  - ThomPete 9y ago
    Because any leisure is a personal choice which you can choose to do or not if you really are worried that you can't get in contact with your nanny then don't go to the concert where they require you to not bring it, don't go to the movies, don't go anywhere you can loose connection and don't go flying. It's perfectly fine if you don't want to take that chance but it's hardly an argument for why someone shouldn't do a show where they ban cellphones.

Part of my human experience may include checking how the babysitter is doing with the kids. I'm not going to do that in a way that disrupts the show, but I still want that access.

ManuelKiessling 9y ago

How did people do that before there were cell phones?

davb 9y ago
My folks used the payphones at most venues to call our landline and speak to the babysitter.
- whatyoucantsay 9y ago
  It's interesting they didn't have confidence in the babysitter's ability to take care of you for an evening but still chose to hire them and then monitored them via payphone. Most times when babysitters are hired, now or a generation ago, they're trusted to make reasonable decisions so the parents don't have to worry.
  - ccallebs 9y ago
    > It's interesting they didn't have confidence in the babysitter's ability to take care of you for an evening but still chose to hire them and then monitored them via payphone. No one questioned the babysitter's competence. They're your children -- you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going.
    - blattimwind 9y ago
      Uhm, yes you are, and pretty clearly at that.
      - scoggs 9y ago
        No, not really. If someone goes out for drinks, then dinner, then a show and the night is going really well maybe the parents want to call and check in. They want to see how the nights going for the babysitter and kid. Are the kids asleep? Is the babysitter content to make some more money for a few extra hours? I think that's all entirely reasonable. It really has little to do with the matter at hand but having to wait in a line to submit or retrieve your phone, be sequestered to a penned in area to use your phone, and then to have to wait in line again to put your phone back into that "prison" system again seems like overkill. I know that's the only way we've been able to identify that works but I don't think there is any surefire method that will not only please the artists / performers and keep the viewers / fans / people in attendance happy.
        DrScump 9y ago
        "...having to wait in a line to submit or retrieve your phone, be sequestered to a penned in area to use your phone, and then to have to wait in line again to put your phone back into that "prison" system again..." The vast majority of the time consumed in that process is simply getting out from where you sit/stand and back, which is the same in the "unjailed" phone scenario. Unless, of course, you were just going to go ahead and conduct that call right there in the venue anyway.
        scoggs 9y ago
        I'm thinking about how annoying this would be at any sort of venue or music event. Someone said prior the main reason they'd use their phone in that situation is to group up with others they came with or met there if they get split up. I can empathize with that 150% and feel that, as someone who will never do more than snap a quick photo of a musical act for nostalgic purposes, the system in place to leave your phone locked up like coat check is mostly just annoying. It all reminds me of DRM causing problems for legitimate, paying customers when the DRM should only be targeting those who go outside of the rules. That's where someone else's comment about treating everyone like adults and kicking people out who break the rules seems like the best bet, although they also admitted (and I agree) that this system just doesn't work as needed, either.
    - musage 9y ago
      > They're your children -- you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going. If you think that's "obvious", then explain why. Because as you put it, it's just false, not everybody does that. Not every kid would stand for it, either. For one because the competence of a babysitter includes handling emergencies, making the practical use of randomly "checking in" (from some remote location) moot, but what's more, it's randomly checking in -- and not actually trusting the competence of the babysitter and having a cell phone with you so they can call you when there is a problem (you can actually help with). Don't dress up neediness as utility and wisdom, badly.
      - 2bitencryption 9y ago
        > not everybody does that. Not every kid would stand for it, either. I see we're dealing with a tough kid here
        musage 9y ago
        Anything you care to actually address? Lots a clicks, the only words are unintentionally ironic. How come? I mean, at least it's picture perfect, down to how you're not dealing with what I said, and comfort yourself about it. The less of you get that the more there is for me. Jealous because you didn't turn around sophistry on adults even as a little one? Not a very intelligent and lively childhood followed by an adulthood doomed to cowardice, is that it? No parents who treated you as a person so you never felt the need to conform to abusive adults? Or just didn't happen to have the mental strength to go along with that? But of course, I can't be personal in response to a personal attack, how dare I. My original comment was horribly wrong for reasons so foul they can't even be pointed out, but your ankle biting reply to it is just fine, heh.
        hluska 9y ago
        Please stop with the overly dramatic, wordy writing - you've taken an extremely interesting conversation and turned it into a cesspool.
    - gsich 9y ago
      You do by phoning home without reason.
    - whatyoucantsay 9y ago
      > you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going Yes. If you suffer from high levels of anxiety and don't trust your own decisions about who to trust, this is true. Many people, particularly Americans, are this way. It is not true for every parent, however.
      - salvar 9y ago
        Out of curiosity, do you have children?
        corvallis 9y ago
        I’m not the above poster, but I did babysit for several families in my grad school years a few years ago. The parents would not generally communicate with me when they were out. If they did, it would be to let me know they’d be early or late, and suggestions for food or activity if they were late. There wasn’t a routine check to make sure their kids were alive & well.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- vageli 9y ago
  Did they not have to wait in a queue of other parents who were similarly concerned? Sounds par for the course in that case.
j_s 9y ago
>How did people do that before there were cell phones? Trust the babysitter to make wise choices. This is actully really tough as cell phones end up lowering the standard expected of babysitters, like the whole GPS/map thing.
dazc 9y ago
'How did people do that before there were cell phones? reply' I used to sit for my nieces and nephews before mobiles were in common usage. My sister would give me the number of the place they were going in case there was a problem. Of course, this was useless if they had gone to somewhere where there may be more than a couple of dozen people? So, in reality, people used to hire baby sitters and just trust them to be able to cope. It's not as if you could do much from the other end of a phone if there actually was an emergency?
lucozade 9y ago
Babysitting probably isn't a great example, but cellphones affect the process of communicating so, unless you're expecting not to have the phone on you, it can actually be detrimental when you don't. The main difference is that you tend to plan less up front. When our children were younger, and we had babysitters, we'd point out where the obvious stuff was but if they needed something, they'd just text. You just don't bother with the 15 min tour that I'd have got when I was doing the babysitting. As a tangential, vaguely amusing, anecdote. A few years ago, my eldest's phone was a bit dodgy and kept cutting out. He was going to meet up with my wife in town but was meeting friends first. The two of them, my wife and son, spent about 5 minutes trying to work out how they could contact each other. I, genius that I am, proposed a radical solution. I suggested that they arrange to meet at an agreed time and place. It had been such a long time since this was necessary that it hadn't even occurred to my wife (for which I still won't let her forget). My son had never, in his 15 odd years at the time, needed to do this.

dblohm7 9y ago

Is that really necessary? Our parents didn't have that luxury, and we turned out fine...

spac 9y ago
Except for all the cases in which things didn't turn out fine, but would have if a cellphone had existed, and that you never really heard about. (minor grammar edit)
- dblohm7 9y ago
  Nonetheless, humanity was not wiped out by the absence of phones.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Our parents didn't have that luxury Yes, they did; before ubiquitous cellphones killed demand for them, basically every public place of any size (and many small ones, and even just public streets) had banks of payphones, and for many kinds of outings people would leave the phone number of the restaurant or other establishment that they were going to for emergency contact in the other direction. The last generation that didn't have that “luxury” was whichever one was before landlines were ubiquitous.
- Angostura 9y ago
  People really didn't go to a phonebox to phone the babysitter, though.
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    They did.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    Yes, they really did. Both when I was the baby-sat and, years later, when I was the baby sitter. Though more likely about an unexpected delay or need that was omitted in prior communication than just a check-in, IME.

DrScump 9y ago

checking how the babysitter is doing with the kids ...in which case you would simply walk out to the lobby and tap the case on any unlocking base.

Theodores 9y ago

I spent my whole teenage babysitting, half a dozen regular gigs and also for families in holiday homes. Not once was there a situation where I needed to call the parents or vice-versa. I suppose they have guns in America so maybe you do need to worry about the kids being SWAT raided or kidnapped. However, the general idea is that the parents go out, drink loads of alcohol and come back around 3 a.m. to be hungover the next morning. Meanwhile, the deal the kids struck with the babysitter was a simple one - they could stay up as late as they wanted just so long as they pretended to be asleep if mummy and daddy come back early. The next morning the kids sleep in and everyone is happy. So you have to let go. Trust the babysitter. Trust your seven year old daughter to try and stay up extra late by showing the babysitter daddy's secret porn collection, hidden behind the antiquarian book collection but all too easy to find for an adventurous child. Of course none of these things or the strange noises the parents make in bed get to be an issue, you just pay babysitter and make them feel welcome and all is good. So Jack White is right.

stuaxo 9y ago
No idea why you are downvoted for this.

ThomPete 9y ago

Then you don't go to the show. Sorry but you talk about checking in on the babysitter as if it's some universal law. It's not you don't have to, and if you feel like you can't go out and enjoy a show without checking in then don't go to the show. And yes I have kids.

Mithaldu 9y ago
Why do you believe FYGM is an appropriate response?
- ThomPete 9y ago
  Because any leisure is a personal choice which you can choose to do or not if you really are worried that you can't get in contact with your nanny then don't go to the concert where they require you to not bring it, don't go to the movies, don't go anywhere you can loose connection and don't go flying. It's perfectly fine if you don't want to take that chance but it's hardly an argument for why someone shouldn't do a show where they ban cellphones.