Rory Gibson on the worst mistake anyone can make with their phone
When it comes to our phones this is the single worst thing you can do.
I dropped my phone into a public toilet. Our relationship will never be the same again.
The scene of the crime - and believe me, the toilet in question was a crime scene no forensic scientist would touch with even the longest forceps - was located in a run-down highway fuel station.
Everything about this dunny and the cubicle that enclosed it was disgusting.
Puddles of unknown liquid on the floor, brown smears on the walls, appallingly unfunny graffiti (whatever happened to toilet humour?), scrunched-up tissue paper in the corners and, worst of all, a half-arsed flush by the previous user.
Luckily it was only a No.1 but it was still all frothy and a bit yellow, so I leaned forward to flush the contents … and my phone did a swan dive into the murk.
Only once before in my entire life have I processed the ramifications of such a calamity and then responded with the same speed as I did in that moment.
That was on a fishing trip to Cape York about 20 years ago. I was chasing barramundi, chucking lures at snags from a tinny in a deep bend in a river with a healthy population of crocodiles.
Trying for extra casting distance I over-rotated my wrist and my prized baitcaster outfit flicked out of my grip and hit the water.
It started sinking. I had one shot at retrieving it and, hoping there were no crocs around watching, dived into the river after the disappearing rod.
It was a good trajectory because I managed to grab the tip of the rod. Adrenalin saw to it that I was back in the tinny less than 10 seconds later.
I was young and stupid then. I’d never do that now … except I did with the phone.
It wasn’t only the phone … it was in a wallet case and all my credit cards and licence were in it, so I had to act.
I can’t say for how long my phone was submerged in another man’s urine in one of the world’s worst toilets, but you could measure it in nanoseconds.
The case and my quick response saved the phone from drowning, but something more precious was lost. Trust.
Even though I doused everything in antiseptic and cleaned every nook and cranny, I just don’t feel the same about what had been a constant and faithful companion.
It’s not its fault, it’s mine. I dropped it
But I only ever talk on speaker now because I don’t want my face too close to it.
Anyone looking to buy a perfectly good second-hand mobile?
Originally published as Rory Gibson on the worst mistake anyone can make with their phone
