Here's another one of those tipping-point stories. It was the end of the month, when I run through the stack of household bills that pile up both on my desk and on the bill-paying page at my bank's Web site. (I'm old-fashioned. I like paper bills. I even check out the cubic zirconium comeons.) This time around, the Verizon bill for my family's four cell phones seemed a little higher than usual, so I went over the 38-page itemized bill. Like most college students, my two daughters live on their phones, but the bill had been pretty consistent. This month, however, there was a spike. Fernanda, it seems, had gotten into texting - and got hit with a $45.65 surcharge, nearly doubling her bill to $93.21.
