Wistful Thinking » Ponderable

Hang up and try again?

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 17:05:19 +0000

I know The Phone Company is not stupid. I spent the first 10+ years of my career working in the Telecommunications field, beginning at the cusp of The Great Divestiture, so I fully understand the technology. After all, many great technological advances came as a direct result of research performed by Bell Labs for telephone communications. The Unix operating system was developed for telephone switching systems. And C language (later growing into C++) and then fiber optic transmission of data were also created for and by The Telephone Industry.

With that incredible heritage it is even MORE FRUSTRATING to me when I use the public switched telephone network (in the USA) and encounter the following message:

“You must first dial a ONE when calling this number.
Please hang-up and try again.”

Well, if the switching network can detect that I need a ONE when dialing this number why doesn’t it simply PRETEND I DID ?

“It is not necessary to dial ONE…” is equally annoying. For the same reason, why doesn’t the network simply absorb that one I dialed?

These issues do not appear when using a cellphone. Admittedly, the cellphone dialing is buffered (queued) as opposed to real-time (sequential). But that is no excuse.

We have electronic devices that even {find the name of the author of Dick Tracy} could not conceive less than a century ago. Yet, we are forced to tolerate verbal abuse and reprimand – in the form of an impersonal recording – for pressing a few too many buttons!

I use various devices (machines) to simplify my existence. I have grown to EXPECT them to act in an intelligent way. There is no good explanation for this behavior and no reason the telephone network should continue to operate in this way.

Is there a penalty for being precise?

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:58:43 +0000

I simply can’t figure it out. Are there some ‘magic words’ that have not been shared with me? Or is it, as I suspect, that this country is filled with people who are simply stupid?
Like most people, there are a few things I purchase on a regular basis. Quite often I like to eat out and go to Subway. The food is fresh, it is [supposedly] healthy for ‘fast food’ and I like the idea of customizing my sandwich. As an engineering-type I have analyzed the process and determined that the bread is the foundation of the sandwich. For that reason, in order to expedite the process and be helpful to the “Sandwich Artist” building my sub, I always specify the size and type of bread FIRST:
“Hi, I would like Wheat Six inch , not toasted, please”, followed by a smile is [far too often] answered with, “What type of bread?”. Then, as the roll is being spread open, in anticipation of the meat, I am almost invariably asked, “would you like this toasted?”.
Did I not specify all these parameters from the start? Was he not listening to me? The signs that normally indicate receipt and acknowledgement of an order were there : eye contact, a nod of the head, immediate jump to action in response to my request.

I see this pattern all over; not only in Subway. I like to get a hot Mocha from McDonald’s. I am one who prefers the human interaction and eschew the Drive-thru experience whenever possible.My normal order at McDonald’s is, “Good morning! I would like a Hot, Whole-Milk Mocha. Large with no whipped cream”. Does that not fulfill a complete and unambiguous order for a hot coffee? I thought so. However, it is rare when I do not hear, “Do you want that cold or hot?”. And then after answering I am asked, “Whole milk?”.

So, if you know and “Magical Phrase” that will force people to actually listen, please let me know.

{By definition, Mocha is a hot drink. Who ever thought of making it cold? When my coffee is cold I throw it away – or heat it back up!}

BOGO on Eyes

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:00:34 +0000

No thanks. I already have two!

This is not a blog post

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:00:35 +0000

“If it quacks like a duck…”
Although this is one of several posts on a blog, this is not a blog post.
I received an interesting piece of [junk] mail the other day. It was from AT&T and an obvious attempt to convince me buy more services. We all have received these letters with an attached check. Well, it is quite obvious it is not real check. But a common marketing technique to make you feel like you are getting money (which is really in the form of a ‘discount’ when you buy*)in its aggressive marketing had been sending promotional mail with what appeared to be a check. We all have received them. We realized it was a ‘marketing ploy’. Apparently, not eveyone.
So, I can understand that, in an effort to protect [the naive?], a law was passed that mandates it be clearly identified as not a real check.
So when I saw this I was immediately struck by the irony. It is actually comical that they continue to print what looks like a check, with the text to disclaim that it is not a check. How silly is that?

*I have trouble perceiving this as money in my pocket. It nothing more than an artificial discount on the cost of a service I was not interested in purchasing in the first place! But that discussion is a subject for a future post.

An Engineer

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:30:41 +0000

I work in an evironment surrounded by very smart people (I call them “people with letters after their name”). Most of them hold a degree (or two) in one of the many branches of Engineering.
The popular phrase to describe Optimism vs. Pessimism has been adjusted in our case:

Superstition

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:01:34 +0000

In 2009, we will have at least three occurances of Friday the 13th. What seems like an even more startling coincidence is the fact that February and then March will see the 13th fall on a Friday.
In honor of this momentous occassion, I feel obliged to remind you of my sincere belief:

It is bad luck to be superstitious.

On each of those fateful fridays I will, likely, be:

Under a ladder
on a crack
repairing a mirror I broke
while throwing salt over my shoulder
because a black cat crossed my path