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6:24pm June 21, 2012

➸ codeman38’s tumblings: Yep, my phone phobia, and the auditory processing difficulties that...

feliscorvus:

codeman38:

Yep, my phone phobia, and the auditory processing difficulties that are its main cause, are still just as bad as ever.

Especially when it comes to things like making appointments.

At least with random conversation, there’s enough context to fill in the missing sounds.

But distinguishing things…

Heh, speaking of phone issues…this morning a (fairly new) co-worker came up to me asking for a favor. She had a post-it note with a phone number on it, and when I saw that, I groaned something like, “Oh no, not the phone!” Generally I try not to immediately enter complaint mode when something like that comes up, but it didn’t turn out to be a big deal at all in this case, which was quite a relief! I am so used to people arguing with me and accusing me of being “difficult” when I balk at phoning that it frankly astounds me when they don’t.

Thus, I practically wanted to rejoice in this instance, as my co-worker actually agreed with me that it would be better to email the information to the party in question (an equipment vendor). Given I was supposed to be providing very specific electrical parameters to the vendor I figured it would be a terrible idea to even *attempt* to use the phone. Because, you know, the numbers REALLY MATTER when it comes to this sort of thing, and it is so easy to mis-hear a person trying to read back the parameters you’ve given them…and for electrical stuff, that could mean accidentally ordering a device meant to work with the wrong frequency, voltage, or plug type. Whereas in e-mail, the quantities are RIGHT THERE in front of you, and don’t disappear into thin air the way they do when spoken, so it’s much easier to make clarifications, correct errors, and ascertain mutual comprehension of the requirements.

I can’t stand using any form of audio communication for technical shit or anything where precision matters. It’s torturous.