"Unlimited"? Sign me up

www.awkwardsilence.com

   It has always amused me in this country how, if something is deficient or problematic, that the solution always seems to end up being 'more' of whatever.
   Years ago I was in a Frisch's restaurant taking in a breakfast buffet when I noticed the sausage gravy tasted as though someone had dumped an ashtray into the mix. When I informed a waitress of the situation she replied, "Oh, well, we're about to bring out some more in a minute." More lousy food is not the solution.
   This concept, of course, was captured in the movie Annie Hall, where Woody Allen recounts one of his favorite jokes: Two women are sitting in a Catskill resort having lunch and the first one says, "The food here is terrible." The second one responds with, "I know, and such small portions."
   So it was no surprise, really, when wireless companies reacted to the wails from shell-shocked parents regarding their little heathens running up ginormous phone bills by offering 'unlimited' calling schemes.
   From a marketing viewpoint the worst thing the companies wanted was to lose customers. Armed with the knowledge that American parents are loathe to rein in their children's' bad habits, cell phone purveyors gradually went to extended plans and finally "unlimited" plans to squelch any further protestations.
   Is it me or is there something wrong with handing an adolescent a cell phone that has "unlimited" minutes?
  When have the words "children" and "unlimited" ever amounted to a positive outcome?
   And let's not let scientific study get in the way of the temporary mollification of kids as long as 'more is better' in this country everybody feels they are getting a deal.