One thing we always take for granted is phone service. Even when the power goes out the regular phone works. So to my surprise last week my phone didn't work.

I remember a very long time ago the phone didn't work when I was just a kid. At that time my mother just went into the telephone building the next time she was in town and reported the outage. The "nice lady at the desk" said that "Tom," or whatever his name was, would stop at the house about 2 p.m. Sure enough at 2 p.m. Tom pulled up in his truck and fixed the problem while entertaining my brother and me by showing us what he was doing and how it all worked.

Well that was then and this is now. So I used my cell phone to call in the problem. I got a computer. This was a voice-activated computer and as long as you said something that it expected, it worked great. It did have a bit of an attitude though, because it stated early on that it could help me just as well as a real service technician. It did quickly determine that the error was in Verizon's line outside of my house. It then said that a service technician - not "Tom" - would be out to fix the problem by 6 p.m. two days hence. It also made it clear that it was committed to this time.

Of course no service technician ever showed up so I went on the computer to see what it said there. There I found that I would have to reschedule the repair and I had my choice of two days, or four days, or five days. I wanted "now" which was not an option so I used my cell phone to call repair again and again I got the computer with an attitude.

I kept disagreeing with every option it gave me until it said it was connecting me with a service representative. Finally, a real person and he soon learned that I was not a happy camper.

I asked if "Tom" could come out and fix the problem at two in the afternoon but he didn't understand. The best he could do was to send a service technician out within 24 hours. I said okay. Just before the time ran out again the service technician came and replaced the wire from the pole to the house. The phone worked!

But what do you do if you are a senior without a cell phone or computer? Being without a phone can be anywhere from an inconvenience to a big problem if you need phone service to maintain your independence.

Many cell phones like the new iphone can do just about everything but make a good cup of coffee. But there are cell phones that do nothing more then make and receive phone calls. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to understand and use. There are also service plans that are very reasonable. If this is even more than you want to spend, the Lincoln County TRIAD offers free cell phones that are set up to only dial 911.

To borrow a phrase from a TV ad, "Every Senior Citizen should have a cell phone." It's a great device to help maintain independence and give you a confident feeling when traveling or when the power goes off. Just remember to keep the battery charged.

Now if you ever have your phone not work or something else does not work, there probably will be a phone number to call for repair. You will also probably be connected to a computer rather than a real person. If you do get to a real person, this person may be only miles away or continents away. The best strategy is to have in mind what exactly you want done. Do make sure that what you want done is reasonable. Then stick with it and don't give up until you reach that objective.

In many cases the problem can be solved on the first call to the "computer with an attitude." Don't give up and don't get emotional. Every company somewhere in its organization has a "nice lady at the desk" and a "Tom" waiting to make things right again.