How to deal with Doofi on the phone

An online friend, Steve M., sent me (and others) the following e-mail as part of an ongoing discussion. I laughed so hard that I asked his permission to share it on my blog. With his consent, here it is.

Useta drive me wild when my wife was the ride coordinator for a local bicycle club. A ride would be briefly described in the newsletter, call for directions. I'd pick up the phone and the caller would ask for directions. I'd say to take the mass pike to the 495 exit (..ok), north to route 62 (..ok), west on 62, and about that point I'd be interrupted when the caller would say "ah, I need to get a pencil, I don't think I can remember this." But I could easily solve the problem: I'd hang up and if the person called again I'd hang up again.

My wife was sympathetic but, after all, she was responsible for getting directions to people who needed them so she changed the writeups: "Beware of phone ogre!! When you have pencil and paper in hand, call for directions."

That worked, but there were also the people who, when I said to get on the mass pike and go west, would say "how do I get to the mass pike?" Naturally it didn't occur to them to tell me where they were coming from -- not that I would have cared, since I don't know how to get to the pike from 127 Cedar Street in Newton. Anyway, I solved that with the hangup method also.

After a few of those, [my wife] again changed the writeups: "Beware of phone ogre!! When you have pencil, paper, and highway map in hand, call for directions."

Having had to deal with similar stupidity over the years, I can't help but sympathize with Steve, and heartily approve his approach!



Peter