SOL21: Calling the President

            Today I decided to call the White House to express my disappointment in the president. At first I was going to e-mail, but the e-mail form requires that I leave my phone number, and I don’t want to do that.

            The website shows two numbers, one for Comments, one for the Switchboard. I called the Comments number and got a recording that said I can only leave a comment between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday. This of course is ridiculous, since a recording can accept calls 24/7. So I called the Switchboard.

           I got a recording there as well, but a human voice answered in the middle of the recording, and when I started to leave my message (that it’s not helpful for the president, in response to a question about how he would reassure the American people, to say among other things “Who knows” and “Let’s see what happens”), she interrupted to say I should call the Comments number. As she was trying to give me that number, I interrupted, raising my voice because I was now getting quite angry, “I called that number and it’s only accepting comments during office hours, and that is ridiculous during a National Emergency.” And then I hung up.

            Usually, it's not good to get angry at switchboard operators; whatever the problem is, it’s not their fault. But this time? I hope they are getting lots and lots and lots of angry calls. And reporting that up the chain of command.

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I’m participating in the 13th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 21 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!