  
Teens/Family Plan
 “I’m simply outnumbered,” says Carlos. “I run a
construction business with about 50 guys doing work all over the
place, and that’s NOTHING compared to three teenage daughters!
“My wife somehow knows who each of the boyfriends are, and
what school events are coming up and all that. But not even she could
keep up with the phone calls and the messages. So I decided to put in
an extra phone line for each of the girls. Not a CHANCE! When I
found out how much the phone company wanted to charge me for each
extra line, I about had a stroke right then and there. They may tell
you in the ads how cheap it is, but take a look at all the little
nickel and dime charges they add. A construction invoice is easier to
read.
“That’s when Theresa told me about the Universal Office and
the family plan. Its only $5 a month for each extra number – no
hidden fees or ‘access’ charges. Now I don’t have to sort out whether
the message from Miguel is for Juana, or Maria or Inez. Actually, I
think there are two Miguels, so it could be even – well, I don’t want
to think about how bad it could get messing up those messages. And I
gave up a long time ago trying to figure out who all the girlfriends
are, calling to talk about this or that.
“Now, we have ALL our calls go to Genie. She answers, and
whoever’s calling chooses from the name list whoever they’re looking
for. The calls go the right person, or they get to leave a message.
And one daughter’s messages don’t get handed to one of the other
girls.
“It works great for me, too. The girls are good girls, and
they’ve grown up around the construction world. But even so, asking
teenagers to take the time to get MY messages right was asking a lot.
I don’t worry about that anymore. In fact, a couple of my
subcontractors have gotten their own Genie numbers, and I’m thinking
about putting it in for my company too.
"College is only a year away for Inez, our oldest. She's gonna' be the first in my family, and they've already accepted her upstate. So I'm planning on surprising her with a GenieCard next week. That way Theresa and I can keep tabs on her when she leaves," Carlos says with a gigantic grin. "She wants spending money, she'll have to call the old, broken down folks she left behind, and then we can send her what she needs right away.
“My Theresa found a
good thing, that’s for sure. She’s smart – I guess that’s why I
married her.”
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