586 minutes

That's how long my kids yakked on the handphone in a one month period.

My eyes popped when I saw the handphone bill on Saturday.

It started with Gillian trying to get her brother in trouble. She showed me the messages on the handphone he was getting and sending. It annoyed me because I already told the kids that the handphone was to be used only in the event of an emergency or when one of them had to stay back in school, use public transport etc. The phone package I signed up for did not include messages and only comprised free incoming calls and 80min of outgoing calls. I had explicitly told them this from the first day I got them the handphone.

So when Gillian told me about her brother messaging merrily away, it set me on the warpath. Upon which I decided to open my phone bill and check the charges they had incurred for messaging. Imagine my shock when I saw that the whole bill for them came up to $102! My own handphone bill only came up to $49 - and this despite the fact that I was using the handphone more often recently due to the house phone being out of order. The killer in the bill was not the messages but the outgoing calls - 586min far exceeded the 80free minutes given in the package. Grrr....

Well, they both got a big earful from me when I read them the riot act. And they each have to pay me $39 (after I took away the normal phone package charges that I usually paid). This will be deducted from their allowance - they have a choice (bite the bullet and go allowance free for 30 days or take half their allowance for 7weeks). And if they pull this stunt again, I will just cancel the phone totally.