More Relay Frustration - Claude, Charlie, and a Baked Lime

I know the relay system is a great wonder for those who were cut off from phone communication for many years but I don't know if I will ever get used to it. Making calls as a late deafened person is totally frustrating as it is no longer convenient.

Yesterday I called my sister and got the answering machine which always hangs up unless I have told the operator I would like to leave a message BEFORE making the call. I know what the answering machine says as I know who they are. So I was sort of surprised when the operator typed "This is DJ, Michelle, and CLAUDE." LOL Who is the heck is this Claude?

Of course there is no Claude and I know that but if I was somebody unaware I would think a Claude really exists. Their Boston Terrier's name is "Spud" so their message on the machine is "You have reached DJ, Michelle, and SPUD." Somehow the operator interpreted the sound of the name Spud as the name Claude. Do Spud and Claude even rhyme or sound alike to you?

Then later I called Harley and the operator types to me "This is Charlie." LOL I get that interpretation quite often but at least those two names totally sound nearly the same. Often operators will type "BJ" for "DJ". I have not told my sister that yet.

So then we have today. I try to call my sister and it literally takes dialing, waiting, and hanging up 6 times before getting a connection! I thought there was something wrong with the phone so I checked all the wires and even pulled out my computer to make sure the phone was plugged in which it was. I tried it again and finally got through only to have the operator get the number wrong! So we try it again! Then within the process of the conversation the operator types to me that my sister inquired if I got an email from the "Baked Lime". LOL Do people even bake limes? Fortunately she kept talking and I was able to figure out from the rest of the conversation what she was referring about - our "Big Climb" and not a dang "baked lime".

I told her about it and then she unnecessarily apologized because she thought it would be easier for the person to type "Big Climb" instead saying the "Leukemia and Lymphoma Society" to which the operator disastrously massacred typing the "Lukemia and Lyphious Society". (rolling eyes and shaking head) There were more errors left for me to decipher that I cannot even remember now.

This happens a lot! Sometimes there will even be abbreviations used which I have to quickly try to guess as there is only a tiny screen where I can view 2 short lines of text at a time. If I cannot problem solve what was meant in time the conversation passes me by and the text disappears and is replaced with new words.

Now there is a method of reporting complaints and is encouraged. However, like the disappearing text, the operator's ID number disappears also once the call has been made unless you have forked out $180 for a printer that will print all your conversations on a skinny roll of receipt paper. If you don't have a printer, you would have to remember to quickly jot down each operator number EVERYTIME you made a call so you have their ID number in case they screw up.

I understand that listening to and typing conversations would not be an easy job and that errors here and there are inevitable. Further, it may be difficult to understand some answering machines or people's voices if static is on the line. This communication is better than no method of making a call at all. Yet, going from hearing where making calls is a simple process one takes for granted to the complication of depending on a third party for communication is just plain frustrating and not an easy change to have to accept.