The telephone thing

[kaz]

To put it mildly, I have issues when it comes to telephones.

In the extreme case, I can have a conversation over the telephone without really being able to understand the other person, while saying things I don't mean, but that bit doesn't really matter because I don't know what it is I'm saying and the other person isn't able to understand me anyway. Subsets of this set of circumstances crop up very regularly. As is probably understandable, telephone conversations with people I do not know very well a) take up a large chunk of my spoons and b) are singularly unpleasant experiences that I will go to great lengths to avoid.

So why is it that there are so many things you can only ever do by phone?

The current fail is me trying to get a code from my mobile phone provider so I can switch providers and still keep my number. I send an e-mail. "Sorry, call this number!" I go to their store. "Sorry, you can only do this by phone!" Why is it that when I am standing right there I have to do it by phone? Why is it that among the multitude of alternate communication channels we have at our disposal it has to be this specific one? Is it so utterly impossible for you to imagine there are people who might have problems with it?

The really frustrating thing is, of course, that I *can* use a fistful of spoons to grit my teeth and lift the handset and call the company anyway, with at least a reasonable chance of being able to communicate. There are people who can't. These people might, actually, have mobile phones as you can do far more with them than simply calling people. Or maybe they'd like to do things like changing the address for their credit card (another one of those "sorry, phone only!" things for my bank, which has resulted in my credit card having been unusable for the last year). Methinks Deaf or HoH people, among others, would like to be able to use credit cards too?

Comments

[codeman38]

Of course, then there are the people who hang up on relay calls, thinking that it's a telemarketer or something. ::headdesk:: Sometimes I wish there were a method of administering cluebat beatings over the phone.

[willow]

How exactly do those kind of phone conversations start or come across. Is it a machine, or a live operator? Because I do automatically hang up when I hear a pre-recorded voice. It never occurred to me that it could be a recording to assist someone with hearing disabilities.

[codeman38]

As far as I know, it's a live operator. I've never been on the receiving end of a relay call, so I'm not certain, but from everyone's experiences that I've read about it was a live operator...

[jesse_the_k]

I've received & made relay calls. In general, the operator (in USA called a Communication Assistant) will check to see if you're familiar with using relay. The CA is supposed to be a communication utility, not a participant. Before you give them the number to dial, you discuss how you want things to go. CAs offer to explain the relay to the receiving party, but that often results in the hang-ups, because the CAs' voices do sound like people who are working in call centers because hey! they're working on the phone all day.

So I'll tell the CA, "I'll introduce myself," then when they type at me
< RING … RING …. RING … MALE > HELLO, BLUEBERRY HILL CLINIC
I can type back,
Good morning, this is Jesse the K calling about my appointment for next month. I'm calling through the telephone relay so there will be a short lag between questions and answers, please stand by.

It seems there are fewer hangups when I'm always speaking for myself, instead of starting off with the CA explaining xie's speaking for someone else.