Do you remember when there were messages like this broadcast on Long Wave? ‘Would the driver of a blue Ford Anglia, registration number xxxx please call home as an emergency has arisen.’
I remember giving a colleague my hotel ‘phone number when I was on holiday in the days before mobiles. I was cut off from the day-to-day routine.
Now the lines are blurred. This week I have been dealing with e mails, listening to the Today programme, booking tickets for Opera Holland Park in the summer, checking the stock market and reading the European edition of The Times. Of course it’s not compulsory but it makes arriving home a whole lot easier.
The internet also blurs the line between work and holiday. I never had access to work e mails when I was out of the office but most of my colleagues did, poor things. On the plus side it means that it is now easy to ‘work from home’. Rory Sutherland, in his Spectator column, postulates that working at home on Mondays and Fridays uninterrupted may be an effective model. He says that adherents are dubbed TWATs – Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I think the reality is that many people find themselves working, to a greater or lesser extent, seven days a week.
This 24/7 availability has its drawbacks. Twice this week “Jessica”, as she calls herself, has called my mobile. Both times I asked why she was calling. The first time she said I was being rude. The second time I said I didn’t believe that she was a Jessica, she was a wanton hussy and should be off with herself. This, apparently, she did not consider rude as she merely rang off. Maybe she is a friend’s secretary? I think not.
The amazing thing about those sorts of “spam” calls is that enough people must actually be taking the callers up on whatever is on offer to convince them to continue to harass people that way. One does occasionally wonder what sort of circumstances would induce someone to purchase new windows or insurance or vacation homes (or, perhaps, to engage with a “Jessica”), based on a dubious telephone conversation?
I have taken to opening up with “I ought to tell you that I will be recording our chat. This may be used for training purposes or just handed over to the local constabulary.” Never seem to get the friendly chat.