My conversation with the building manager informing him of my plans reminded me that when it comes to my phone usage, I remain on the minimalist end of the scale. I asked only that I have twenty-four hours notice before anyone came in to see the place. This request was readily acknowledged alongside the reminder that such notice is (presumably) the law. I welcomed this perspective, but it had nothing to do with my request - twenty-four hours notice is based on the reality that sometimes I will go twenty-four hours without checking my phone. This is an admittedly extreme example, but even ten hours off the grid could be relevant in the context. Suppose I check my phone in the morning, then again at 10 PM. Is it hard to envision a scenario where I've missed several "urgent" messages about someone coming to see the listing? Based on my recent interactions with realtors, it seems that such a scenario is more likely than not.
The reality has not played out as I'd imagined it during that initial discussion. My own search has motivated me to check the phone with more regularity, and to no one's surprise the building manager has contacted me with requests violating the basic principle of the above law. I am not bothered in the slightest by either of those two facts from the past couple of weeks. The universal truth is that habits often fall away during a time of change, and in this way my temporarily millennial mentality toward phone usage is just another example of the age-old wisdom playing out in modern life.
