Wednesday, May 17, 2006

A quiet day at work

At 8:30 yesterday morning somebody somewhere cut through a telephone fiber-optic line. That line was carrying all the (long distance) telephone and data traffic to and from my plant.

No email. No Internet. Best of all, no annoying phone calls from vendors, bankers, and parasites. Worst of all, no calls from customers!

It was a great chance to get caught up on paperwork and things that had been pushed aside while dealing with the immediacy of electronic communications. I did miss the opportunity to make a few outgoing calls and check occasionally for emailed blog comments, but I knew that when I got home all would be there waiting for me.

This cut line evidently carried long distance telephone traffic that originated from cell phones also, since we couldn’t call out on our cell phones either.

Of interest to me was the degree of dependence we have apparently developed to electronic communications. There were a significant number of office people who wandered around as if lost, unable to perform their normal routines.

By 2:00 p.m. all was back to normal and the break repaired. But if it were not... If for some reason it had required a week or more to get things back to “normal”... I wonder what changes we would make in the way we go about our daily jobs.

The old adage is true: you never really appreciate something until you’re forced to do without it.

9 comments:

bigwhitehat said...

So was it the comm line or the silence that you missed?

Duke_of_Earle said...

Good question. Guess I missed each of those, but only when I didn't have them!

John

Anonymous said...

In my previous job everything we did was internet based and so when anything untoward happened with phone lines, in knocked us off course. Catching up was the hardest part though.

It is true how dependent we become on technology. It would take me a long time to adjust to living without telephone, electricity etc.

OMG - I have a looooooong word verification tonight. Don't they know I am having a bad bad week!

Charli Cole said...

If we lost touch with all of technology...I believe the world would become one, great big, murderous field day.

Inability to conduct DNA, fiber, and hair testing. Trace fingerprints, toeprints, arseprints. No access to criminal records. Etc.

Power to the people who want someone dead.

I know I won't be sitting at home when that particular opportunity knocks.

LOL.

kenju said...

My daughter told me just this morning that she goes to work super early in the a.m. so that she can get her work done before the phones start ringing. Mr. kenju used to do that also. Maybe we should all have a phone-free morning every week.

Karyn Lyndon said...

Sounds like withdrawals...that's the way I felt when they put a firewall up to blogger at work. It hasn't been the same ever since. I NEED MY BLOGSPOT FIX!!!

: (

Anonymous said...

Duke,

I may have to stop visiting here. Last week after you mentioned your HP printers both of our work ones died, this week I'm not kidding I was reading this post and the internet connection died and was down all day.

I'm actually starting to think that the more we talk about this restentialism (or whatever it was!) the more it happens. Maybe "they" are watching your blog and transmitting it to your followers !

Anonymous said...

ROFL at Robotjam. Its true. We better begin talking in a secret language to talk about these things.

Emmy Ellis said...

Ooooerr at 'them' affecting others like this.

WOOOOOOOOOH scary!

:o)