SOL Tuesday: Phone Tsuris

             (I never learned much Yiddish, but this is the only word, meaning aggravating trouble, that adequately captures my feelings.)

            Yesterday, I wanted to buy a new flannel nightgown, so I went online to L.L. Bean  and found that the pattern I wanted was sold out. Maybe they would be getting more soon? I decided to call.

            I got the recording, punched in the proper number, but the customer service person who answered the phone couldn’t hear me. Funny. I hung up and tried again. Another customer service person couldn’t hear me. I use earbuds with my cellphone, so I tried another pair, calling twice more, and still, no one could hear me.     

          Maybe the problem was my phone. I called a friend. She couldn’t hear me either, with the earbuds, but when I unplugged them, she could hear me fine, so it wasn’t the phone. (I seem to hear better with the sound plugged directly into my ear; don’t know if that is a function of my hearing or the fact that cellphones have no obvious earpiece.) Later in the day, I talked to my daughter on the phone, with earbuds, and no problems. Go figure.

          Today I tried to call L.L. Bean again. The first time, the phone hung up in the middle of the recording. The second time, the phone hung up after I reached a customer service person. Third time, finally, everything worked the way it is supposed to. I spoke to a customer service person — and learned that all the flannel nightgowns are sold out... until June. 

         Technology: can't live without it, and can't live with it.

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