Ten Digits?! - 10 November 2021 - Plague Journal Day 608

Micah 6:8
1 Chronicles 20:6-8
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Area Code Day! I suppose that's a bit of an odd thing to celebrate, but consider how difficult it would be to make phone calls without area codes. They date back to the 1940s and made it possible to have the same 6- or 7-digit phone number for different people in different areas.(Yes, I said 6-digit because that's what they were for a long time. My grandparents' number was TUxedo3193 for a long time before it because TUxedo2-3193. Note that TUxedo was the exchange and translates to 88 - look at the letters on your phone's number pad for confirmation. You're welcome.)
Anyway, with the burgeoning adoption of fax machines, computers with modems, and cell phones the phone system was running out of numbers to assign. They cleverly carved out new area codes - for each new one, all the numbers in a previous one were now available again - brilliant!
There couldn't be any unintended consequences to something that simple, could there? Of course there could.

I was traveling on business (to Kansas City) when our office area code changed from 313 to 810. I had a laptop (pretty advanced for the times when I think about it) and would call the office to check on stuff each day. Well, I did until 10 August when that change took place. I couldn't call in because the hotel had a list of allowed area codes (rather than a list of disallowed). This was when all the 900 numbers were raging, as well as scams involving huge per-minute charges to area codes that seemed innocuous.
I had to call home (my home was still 313) and pass on the information indirectly. Fun times.

Allan Sherman knew what was coming! He's got us all Digit Dialing indeed! At least we're on ten digits, just like most folks' hands.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.