As of March 2009 Qwest requires that all phone calls in the state of Utah must be dialed with the area code. Yes, that's even for local calls. It's a bit strange to call my neighbor down the street or even next door and be required to enter ten digits for the connection. I thought this to be a bit of an inconvenience and was just trying to remember the dialing requirements so that I wouldn't continue to hear the automated voice reminding me. A few days after this began I was talking with my mother-in-law. She related a story about my brother-in-law, Adam, who is autistic. He came home from work one day and said to mom that he couldn't talk to her just yet because he needed to called his girlfriend, Debbie (who is also handicapped). He was worried since he hadn't heard from her for a few days. At first he couldn't seem to get through until mom explained to him the new dialing rules.
When Debbie answered the phone he was greeted with a joyous cry of delight because she thought he had moved. Nobody told her about the change required for dialing phone calls, and apparently she wasn't really comprehending what the automated voice was telling her, she assumed it was saying the number was not longer in service. She had been trying to reach him for three days, and had also thought other people she knew were gone! It was apparently quite upsetting for her. Adam was very relieved too, he expressed to us that he thought she didn't like him anymore for a while and was wondering why she hadn't called. Daniel and I got a pretty good laugh out of that story, but also wondered how many others may not have heard about it and didn't really understand the automated voice. Good thing it got sorted out!
9 years ago
