Do you know your cell phone number?

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This may sound like a dumb question but let me give you some background. I work for a large company as a CSR. We take calls from customers all day long. One thing we always ask is a phone number in case we get disconnected so we can call the person back. A number of times the customer will say something to the extent of "wow, I don't know my cell phone (or home phone) number. I don't have to call myself." My question is this. Who doesn't know their phone number? The same could be said for your home address. Just like you don't call yourself you're probably not mailing anything to yourself either. However, you can remember your full home address but 10 digits escape your mind. Is this just an issue of not trying to remember simple information?

Here's another thing I can't figure out with people and cell phones. A lot of the times people will call and they'll have you on speaker phone. Speaker phones sound very hollow and most of the times the people you're talking to are either speaking so softly or they're yelling at the phone. When you ask them to take you off speaker they say they don't know how. If you can put your phone on speaker then why can't you take it off speaker and just hold the phone to your ear like most people. I've had quite a few try to take me off speaker and then the call just hangs up. I am not a big fan of speak phones because I hate to be somewhere and you can hear both sides of a conversation. In the mall, a store, the DMV, etc. Do you really want everyone to hear your conversation. And I've even seen people on the phone and the phone is to their ear so they can hear the other person but when they start speaking they take the phone from their ear and put it right in front of their mouth to talk. So now they are going back and forth with the phone to their ear to it being right in front of their face.

Just some observations.

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@StarbucksFreak,

Some people may be using speaker phones in the mistaken belief that they'll hear better. They may also want someone else in on the call to guide/coach them (think elderly couples in both instances). There are also any number of seniors who have trouble with even the most basic technology. They don't know how to take their phone off speaker because someone else put it on that way (like a grandchild), or they did so months or even years ago and have just plain forgotten how.

I know my cell number, but unless I need to provide it for some form, it's not exactly top of mind. People can also get flustered if they think you want the information RIGHT NOW (whether you're behaving or sounding that way or not, there are folks who will think that way) so they essentially fumble.

They may also think they're being funny, so chalk that up to some unfunny vamping that some people feel the need to do. It's like having the last name McCoy and someone calling your Dr. McCoy or 'the real McCoy' who thinks they're hysterical but the reality is, you've heard that a million times and it wasn't too funny the first time you heard it. And it sure as hell isn't funny now.

The folks who are moving the phones from mouth to ear and back again are also, likely, seniors, so they are people who started life with tethered landlines. Cell phones feel weird and flat (and probably also feel too light). They can't tuck the phone under their chin or on their shoulder. Consider this: their muscle memory is of physically dialing a phone, tucking it under their chin, and then hanging it up on a switch hook. Every one of these things has changed with cell phones. It can be hard to unlearn those old habits. Keep in mind that, for someone born in 1931 (so they're 90 years old this year), and who was a late adopter, they my have used landlines (tethered or not. Keep in mind, a lot of cordless non-cell phones have a similar user experience to old tethered landlines) for over 75 years. That's a very ingrained habit, so it can be extremely hard to unlearn.

So, give the elderly a little consideration and patience. You're asking them to do something that's hard for them.

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@jespah,

Another comment on using speaker...because often times you are on hold for a very long time....that is why I put someone on speaker. I am not going to sit with my phone to my ear for 20 minutes and longer.

Some phones also do not have the same button for putting your phone on speaker and then another to take them off I do find it very odd my land line has it clear how to put a phone on speaker but not one to take it off.

Just some thoughts on why this happens from a customer point if view.

In addition you may be getting people calling from a car...busy working people probably calling while diving .... This has to be hands free and on speaker.

There are a multiple reasons people use speaker usually it is because they need to be hands free.

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@jespah,

jespah wrote:

Some people may be using speaker phones in the mistaken belief that they'll hear better. They may also want someone else in on the call to guide/coach them (think elderly couples in both instances). There are also any number of seniors who have trouble with even the most basic technology. They don't know how to take their phone off speaker because someone else put it on that way (like a grandchild), or they did so months or even years ago and have just plain forgotten how.

I know my cell number, but unless I need to provide it for some form, it's not exactly top of mind. People can also get flustered if they think you want the information RIGHT NOW (whether you're behaving or sounding that way or not, there are folks who will think that way) so they essentially fumble.

They may also think they're being funny, so chalk that up to some unfunny vamping that some people feel the need to do. It's like having the last name McCoy and someone calling your Dr. McCoy or 'the real McCoy' who thinks they're hysterical but the reality is, you've heard that a million times and it wasn't too funny the first time you heard it. And it sure as hell isn't funny now.

The folks who are moving the phones from mouth to ear and back again are also, likely, seniors, so they are people who started life with tethered landlines. Cell phones feel weird and flat (and probably also feel too light). They can't tuck the phone under their chin or on their shoulder. Consider this: their muscle memory is of physically dialing a phone, tucking it under their chin, and then hanging it up on a switch hook. Every one of these things has changed with cell phones. It can be hard to unlearn those old habits. Keep in mind that, for someone born in 1931 (so they're 90 years old this year), and who was a late adopter, they my have used landlines (tethered or not. Keep in mind, a lot of cordless non-cell phones have a similar user experience to old tethered landlines) for over 75 years. That's a very ingrained habit, so it can be extremely hard to unlearn.

So, give the elderly a little consideration and patience. You're asking them to do something that's hard for them.

I get what you're saying about the people being elderly and a number of them have told me that they don't hear well and have to put it on speaker. Again, not arguing, just my observation. If you can't hear well then why would you not hold the phone directly to your ear compared to it being in your lap or on a table next to you? I would think you could hear better if the speaker if right next to your ear instead of several feet away.

And when I dial my phone it doesn't automatically go to speaker. Is there some setting you can use so that it automatically puts the phone on speaker? That's still a step you have to hit a button to actually put it on speaker. My phone like lot of people's phones is that the same button it hit to put it on speaker if the same button you hit to take it off speaker.

And yes, I do give old / elderly people consideration. I tell my parents all the time. Stop hitting buttons if you don't know what they are. I have to go to my parents house a few times a week because they have messed up their TV or can't figure out the cable box.

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@StarbucksFreak,

An elderly person not holding to their ear could be the result of a hearing aid...they work kind of odd where certain sounds and different proximity can cause it harder to hear to too loud so someone with a hearing aid it is completely possible that they hear better with speaker than closer to their ear.

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

An elderly person not holding to their ear could be the result of a hearing aid...they work kind of odd where certain sounds and different proximity can cause it harder to hear to too loud so someone with a hearing aid it is completely possible that they hear better with speaker than closer to their ear.

I can see that.

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