THINKING ALLOWED

Actually I have been thinking back rather a number of years to the time when a simple phone call would be answered by a switchboard operator who would connect you with the appropriate person who would deal with the matter you were ringing about.  No computers at all back then, usually everything was written by hand or typed and it would be filed under the relevant subject matter.  If the person was unavailable the telephonist would give them a message and you'd be rung back as soon as the person was available.  It seldom failed.

Are you with me so far or have I gone too far back in time for you?  The reason I am mentioning this is because of what happened last Wednesday week.  Each year I am interviewed by Silver Chain and last year they were running so late with their appointments I didn't see anyone till March this year.  At that time the lovely lady I saw said my next appointment was due in September this year.  In order to bring it all up to date she gave me a number to ring and said to ask them if I could either have a home visit or a telephone interview some time in September.   She obviously realised I don't get around too well and she was trying to really be helpful.

OK you've got that?   So, on Wednesday 4th I telephoned the 1300 number (35 cents a pop these days) and gave my relevant details to the lady who answered the phone with my request (as above).   She said she would have to speak to one of their liaison officers who would ring me.   Sure enough I got a call from (I'll call her Lisa) to say she was dealing with my request and would send a note to the original officer I'd spoken to if I would ring them back in about 15 minutes.  Before I had time to do this I had yet another call from a liaison officer who didn't know I'd already been called by Lisa.  After telling her the matter had been dealt with I again phoned the main office (another 35 cents) and the lady there had had no message about it from Lisa even though I'd given them about 30 minutes to get it sorted.

I then went on to ask about a telephone interview and she asked me to hold on a few minutes.  She eventually came back and told me they only make phone calls to north of the river!!!  I said that made no sense as it would cost them only a local call north or south but she said that was their ruling.  I persisted that I felt a phone interview should be possible and she said she would get back to Lisa who by that time had gone home and ask Lisa to ring me in the morning.  I asked that she phone me after 10am (we are late risers) and next morning I was up at about 9am but no phone call from Lisa.  No call on Friday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday either!!!!

I decided I would wait till lunchtime Thursday and then ring them again but before I had a chance to do that I did receive a call from Silver Chain from an entirely different lady to the other four I'd spoken to last week.   She said they'd make an exception and I could expect a call at 8.30am on a date in September.   "Whoah"  said I, "I'm barely out of bed at that time and really not compos mentis enough to do a long interview on the telephone".  She said she was sorry but that was the only time of the day they made telephone calls.  She suggested perhaps a home interview would be best so I am expecting a lady to call in October at a reasonable hour of 10.30am.  I do also have to consider Phil as he tends, like me, to be a late riser, especially in the cooler weather.  After all, he is from England and they, poor souls, do tend to feel the cold more than many of us Aussies do.

Phil went to his monthly poetry meeting this morning (I like some poetry but not enough to talk about it) and when he arrived home he handed me a a lovely bunch of daffodils.  I couldn't help laughing when he said "They were really quite cheap."  I told him that wasn't really an appropriate thing to say when handing a lady flowers but I realised he was telling me he'd not wasted a lot of money.  Now, I ask you, would any lady think a gentleman was wasting money if he handed her a simple bunch of flowers?  I think not but the sentiment was not lost and I appreciated them as the bunch of flowers he gave me last week had just been thrown out.