Recently, when the numbers on my cell phone keypad grew so worn I could no longer read them, I reluctantly decided to get a new phone. The world of cell phone technology has changed since my last purchase. My once cutting-edge, sleek flip-phone is now considered a quaint antique. The fast-talking lady at the phone kiosk showed me an array of phones that apparently can do everything from defrost chicken to launch an air assault over Cuba. She showed me a phone with a cute little slide out keyboard. “You don’t even need your computer to get and send e-mail!” she enthused. “But I can’t type on one of those,” I said. “There’s not enough room for my fingers”/Cindy Hval, Washington Voices. More here.

• Also: Cindy's latest love story from the Greatest Generation

Question: Do you enjoy going to Verizon or some other cell phone dispenser for a new phone? Or does the spiel fed you by glib clerks turn you off?