I had to ask my colleague if I even understood the argument correctly. Genna was angry because Geoff knew that today, she would need to take a taxi, and that the taxi app was on Phone #2, not Phone #1, which she usually only takes with her to work, and which all of her messaging apps are on. Those messaging apps she uses to contact family, who invariably blow her up with calls in the morning regarding demands for immediate money transfers. Those messaging apps she uses to communicate with Geoff; for example, to let him know she’s done with work, and he can come pick her up. Those messaging apps she uses to communicate with her colleagues throughout the day. She rarely forgets Phone #1 for how frequently she needs it for important widespread communications. Which makes one wonder why she even has two phones at all.
So today, knowing that he wouldn’t be picking her up, and that she might forget Phone #2, Geoff sets it out on the table for her, like a good, dutiful husband. When it was time to leave the house, Genna picks up Phone #2 and heads to the car, automatically thinking she’d gotten everything she needed.
Soon after taking off, she realized that she had left Phone #1 behind. Immediately she threw a hissy fit, scolding and blaming Geoff for making her forget the phone she really needed the most. She didn’t care that he was trying to help her; all she knew was that he fucked her by setting out Phone #2, and she wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone for the morning and early afternoon until she got home. Eight or nine hours of painful radio silence. Thrice she scolded him, incredulous that he could be so inconsiderate, each time retreating into stone cold silent contempt to punish him.
An astonishing experience.