The joy of speakerphone
Last week I ordered a storm-door from Mighty Lowes in Canandaigua.
It replaces an aluminum storm-door which corroded and is disintegrating.
The storm-door had to be ordered, came in, and now we had to sign contracts. Us old-folks would have it installed.
A guy from Lowes called and left a message on our landline. I was to call back.
I’d use my cellphone.
Calls on the cellphone avoid the silliness of charging me long-distance to call 15 miles, although it would probably cost less to use the landline.
Whatever, my cellphone bill would be the same, yet my landline bill would reflect a call to Canandaigua.
I have taken to using speakerphone on my cellphone.
It works very well, and -a) it allows my wife to overhear my phonecalls, and supply answers when the old stroke-survivor is trying to speak answers for phonecall questions, and -b) it negates holding the phone to my ear, which can be erratic.
I called Lowes, switched on the speakerphone, and was promptly put on hold.
“Please hold during the silence. BOOM-CHICKA-BOOM-CHICKA-BOOM-CHICKA-BOOM!”
I laid down my phone, and fired up this here laptop.
This was great.
I could get things done while on hold.
Years ago, during my employ at the Mighty Mezz, I was doing a meeting with Human Resources — I think the lady’s name was Amy.
She had been the Administrative Assistant for Andy Wolfe, head-honcho of the Post weeklies before he retired and the Messenger bought them.
Amy had to make a phonecall pertaining to me, and was put on hold.
I think she was doing the same thing, monitoring speakerphone while doing something else. —Except she was on landline.
Finally, activity; my Lowes phonecall was being transferred.
More holding.
I updated our credit-card account in Quicken.
This was great!
Multitasking.
I could get things done instead of twiddling my thumbs holding.
All thanks to speakerphone.
• “Mighty Lowes” is the nationwide hardware supplier, a big-box store.
• “Canandaigua” (“cannan-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away. (We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield, southeast of Rochester.)
• RE: “Us old-folks......” —We’re both 67.
• A phonecall to nearby Canandaigua on my landline is long-distance, apparently due to different phone companies. (This goes back years.)
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993, and it slightly compromised my speech. (Difficulty finding and putting words together; e.g. phonecalls.)
• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired over five years ago. Best job I ever had — I worked there almost 10 years. (During my employ, the Messenger bought the Post weeklies [newspapers — I think there were nine], when their owner and publisher, Andy Wolfe, retired.)
• “Quicken” is my financial computer software, where I keep record of our accounts.
It replaces an aluminum storm-door which corroded and is disintegrating.
The storm-door had to be ordered, came in, and now we had to sign contracts. Us old-folks would have it installed.
A guy from Lowes called and left a message on our landline. I was to call back.
I’d use my cellphone.
Calls on the cellphone avoid the silliness of charging me long-distance to call 15 miles, although it would probably cost less to use the landline.
Whatever, my cellphone bill would be the same, yet my landline bill would reflect a call to Canandaigua.
I have taken to using speakerphone on my cellphone.
It works very well, and -a) it allows my wife to overhear my phonecalls, and supply answers when the old stroke-survivor is trying to speak answers for phonecall questions, and -b) it negates holding the phone to my ear, which can be erratic.
I called Lowes, switched on the speakerphone, and was promptly put on hold.
“Please hold during the silence. BOOM-CHICKA-BOOM-CHICKA-BOOM-CHICKA-BOOM!”
I laid down my phone, and fired up this here laptop.
This was great.
I could get things done while on hold.
Years ago, during my employ at the Mighty Mezz, I was doing a meeting with Human Resources — I think the lady’s name was Amy.
She had been the Administrative Assistant for Andy Wolfe, head-honcho of the Post weeklies before he retired and the Messenger bought them.
Amy had to make a phonecall pertaining to me, and was put on hold.
I think she was doing the same thing, monitoring speakerphone while doing something else. —Except she was on landline.
Finally, activity; my Lowes phonecall was being transferred.
More holding.
I updated our credit-card account in Quicken.
This was great!
Multitasking.
I could get things done instead of twiddling my thumbs holding.
All thanks to speakerphone.
• “Mighty Lowes” is the nationwide hardware supplier, a big-box store.
• “Canandaigua” (“cannan-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away. (We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield, southeast of Rochester.)
• RE: “Us old-folks......” —We’re both 67.
• A phonecall to nearby Canandaigua on my landline is long-distance, apparently due to different phone companies. (This goes back years.)
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993, and it slightly compromised my speech. (Difficulty finding and putting words together; e.g. phonecalls.)
• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired over five years ago. Best job I ever had — I worked there almost 10 years. (During my employ, the Messenger bought the Post weeklies [newspapers — I think there were nine], when their owner and publisher, Andy Wolfe, retired.)
• “Quicken” is my financial computer software, where I keep record of our accounts.
posted by BobbaLew at 2:21 PM
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