Faxes

Do you ever wonder why with all this great and affordable document scanning technology available that people continue to use fax machines. Well, let me tell you a story about something that happened to me this morning. I think it illustrates why: At about 5 a.m. I guess (or so my wife told me), my office phone started ringing. I woke up around 7 and sure enough, it's still ringing. So, I go downstairs and answer a call, figuring it must be something important. Turns out it was someone trying to call a bank. Okay, strange that they would have been calling since five, but I tell them sorry, wrong number. Then, in quick succession I get like five more similar calls. Finally, I ask, "what number are you calling?" and the person says 866-2247-1234 or something. The mistake is obvious. Apparently, the bank had today changed its number and this was the new toll free number, but these people didn't realize you had to dial "one" first and the locals were being connected to my line after dialing the first seven digits. So, I disconnect my phone, leaving a message for people to call my cell phone.

This afternoon the bank calls. They apologize and tell me they have cancelled the number after Verizon said they couldn't change their automated message to tell callers to dial "1" first. In Verizon's opinion, it should have been obvious to callers that they needed to dial "1." Well, I can attest that it certainly was not. Similarly, it may seem obvious to us that people should scan instead of fax, but guess what?

Just keep that in mind.

Thanks.

Ralph