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  • what's the point in this?

    From George Pope@1:153/757 to August Abolins on Wed Mar 1 09:31:14 2023
    Hi All...
    Some people leave me their phone numbers, and THIS happens when I call.. https://kolico.ca/tmp/audio_2022-06-10.ogg

    Seems useless to give out that number, then -- Maybe they just forgot that the switchboard controls calls in their building? Often some organisations will have a central incoming number that goes to the receptionist & also several outgoing-only lines used as extensions to be used by the staff, so they're not disturbed when with clients.

    aka: I'm a very important person; I don't take calls on your schedule, I make them on mine! Happens a lot here for provincial government offices. . .

    I prefer texts, as I can get to them on my time & availability & not be interrupted at the task I'm currently involved with, when they come in. (I'm a very impo'tant person, don't you know!)


    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
  • From George Pope@1:153/757 to August Abolins on Wed Mar 1 09:35:52 2023
    Hello Jay!
    ** On Friday 10.06.22 - 15:50, you wrote to me:
    https://kolico.ca/tmp/audio_2022-06-10.ogg
    When you dial the phone number of a pay phone you'll get
    the same recording.
    I've that that number on file since 2015, and no prior issues.
    Unless.. the person is relying on a pay-phone for calls? Hmmm.

    The telcos often catch up late on blocking incoming calls to some payphones.

    I recall when they did a big blast on such in the late '80s & our free calling service was dead (we had codes to say which payphone we were at, so we could get a call back for free; there was a list by the home phone so when we got a short ring-in & hangup, we could match the number of rings to the chart & call whomever it was back, saving them $0.10CAD, which was a lot of money to us then!

    Soon after they blocked incoming calls on all payphones & then soon after again, they jumped the cost to 25c/local call.

    Sorry for my part in this inconvenience. . .

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
  • From Kurt Weiske@1:218/700 to George Pope on Thu Mar 2 06:33:00 2023
    George Pope wrote to August Abolins <=-

    Seems useless to give out that number, then -- Maybe they just forgot
    that the switchboard controls calls in their building? Often some organisations will have a central incoming number that goes to the receptionist & also several outgoing-only lines used as extensions to
    be used by the staff, so they're not disturbed when with clients.

    1975 called, they want their tech back.

    Back when PBXes roamed the earth, I put a phone on everyone's desk, a receptionist console in the back room, another console at the front
    desk, and call centers for customers to call the company and speak to a
    human being.

    People used to walk by the front desk and pick up their messages from a
    little rotating organizer.

    Then, we installed a voicemail system and people could get their own
    messages - even get paged when they received a voicemail!

    At that point, everyone got Direct-Dial numbers. No need for paper
    messages or a reception desk any more, except for the odd caller who
    didn't know how to reach someone directly.

    Fast forward a couple of years and people were asking me to take the
    phones off of their desk - took too much room.




    ... ZIMA TASTES BETTER WHEN IT'S ILLEGAL
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    * Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)