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Tales from the Dump: Numbers and more numbers

Getting tied up in dialling
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I’ve got the 867 blues.

This is day six of the new phone system we have to get used to using. I wonder how many people still dial without using 867 and get a recorded message which says in English only, with what could be described as a snarky voice, “The local number you have dialled must be preceded by the area code. Your call will now proceed.” Which they then repeat before they proceed with the call.

It probably takes around a minute to hear this and get proceeded. Eventually, I assume they will just refuse the calls and not proceed unless you dial all ten digits. I can remember back in the day when for a local call you only had to dial 4 numbers. That eventually got bumped up to seven numbers and now we have moved to ten. How long before we switch to 12 or 14 numbers (because they will want to skip 13)?

I will assume that this message has repeated thousands of times in the last 6 days and will be repeated thousands of more times as the public get brainwashed by the new reality. That means that thousands of minutes have been wasted or stolen from the public. Once again, the system or big brother is out there adding to the chaos, confusion, and frustration of daily life with absolutely no compensation.

Also think of the government, businesses and individuals who must change their phone listings, advertising, web pages and paperwork to reflect the new change in phone numbers. There really should be a panel or commission that investigates these changes and rates them on time lost, cost and frustration level.

Not only were phones simpler in bygone days, but using them was too. Photo courtesy Walt Humphries
Not only were phones simpler in bygone days, but using them was too. Photo courtesy Walt Humphries

I don’t think the politicians, bureaucrats or big businesses realize just how frustrating they are making things and unfortunately it just keeps getting worse, not better. Lots to think about. If you have a credit card it probably has a 12 digit number. Except when you try to use it on the internet or by phone. Then you must add your expiry date, which is another 4 numbers and your security code on the back of the card, which is another three numbers. So, your credit card is 19 digits. This far exceeds the number of people on the planet so I assume they are issuing cards to aliens from Mars and Venus.

Recently the expiry date on my credit card changed. This meant I had to notify several sites that my card had changed. It actually took the better part of a day because a couple of the sites had automatic answering systems, which not only waste a lot of time, but one wouldn’t change anything unless I entered a code sent by text mail and I don’t text. Finally, I actually got to talk to a human who took pity on me and probably broke a few company rules and let me do it over the phone.

Obviously, my frustration level was high that day all because of the way bureaucrats do things. Because when you stop to think about it why have an expiry date on a card in the first place. If I continue to use the card and pay the bill monthly, why do they even have an expiry date. It’s like having to renew my seniors parking pass every year. I am not going to suddenly start getting younger.

Things should be getting simpler and easier. We certainly have the technology to make that happen but instead it just keeps getting more complex, time-consuming, and frustrating.

For the mental health of the nation, I would advocate for a law that bans automatic answering systems. They waste an incredible amount of people’s time and are often quite useless. Either that or a law that says if you put a person on hold you must compensate them with an hourly rate. Same for companies or people who put out junk email. Just imagine how much time many workers spend reading and deleting emails they didn’t need or want in the first place. A dollar per email sounds fair. Ah yes, lets put a price on pollution and wasted time.