When my father works, nothing else exists.
Not the phone. Not the dog. Not the fact that telemarketers are circling like vultures the moment a mobile subscription is up for renewal.
Both my parents’ mobile plans were due. I have told my father a thousand times: never, ever do business over the phone. He nodded. Then a young man called this spring, claimed the old operator had merged with his company, and offered my thrifty father a deal that sounded too good to refuse. My father, who just wanted to end the call and keep working, decided to approve it on the spot — with Mobile BankID — and then forgot the entire conversation the second he hung up. Work mode re-engaged.
Fast-forward to late July. My mother casually mentioned she was thinking of buying the iPhone 18 when it drops this fall. That was the moment my father remembered he had already “arranged” new iPhones for both of them through this generous package.
My mother went into mild panic mode and asked the obvious question: Did you just renew, or did you actually switch operators? He couldn’t give a straight answer.
A thousand phone calls later, the truth emerged. He hadn’t only changed mobile operators. He had also switched the broadband — for the apartment in Nacka and the summer house in the Stockholm archipelago.
This is where it gets expensive and annoying. Both homes are heavily automated: Plejd lighting, alarm systems with indoor and outdoor cameras, underfloor heating, air-source heat pumps, smart doorbells and door locks. Everything runs through apps that talk to the existing broadband. All of it now needs to be reprogrammed.
The “super deal” included a throttled router. So today my husband and I are helping my mother buy proper unthrottled hardware with current technology. The new routers alone will cost more than 12,800 SEK. On top of that comes all the hours of reconfiguration work.
This time the message finally landed. My father will never again sign up for anything over the phone.
Has your parent (or partner, or you on a distracted day) ever signed something they instantly forgot about? Tell me the damage in the comments. I need the company.
This isn’t exactly a new pattern. I was already writing about my father’s complicated relationship with technology two years ago: