Monday, September 11, 2006

A Reader's Digest Moment

A conversation just held at the front desk:

Guest (on phone): Yes, I'd like to call Germany.
Clerk: Umm... let me check on that for you.
Clerk (to me): How does a guest call Germany?
Me: They dial 9, and then the number as normal.
Clerk (to guest): Dial 9, sir, and then the number as normal.
Guest: Okay... but how do I dial the plus?
Clerk: The... plus?
Guest: Yes, the plus. To call Germany is +49.
Clerk (to me): How does he dial the plus?
Me: The plus? What? Did he actually just say that? You don't DIAL the plus!
Clerk (to guest): Sir, have you ever called Germany?
Guest: Yes, from my mobile.
Clerk: You don't have to dial the plus.
Guest (obviously does not believe clerk): I will try this...

The guest also did not know he had to dial the U.S. country code before dialing the number. This may not seem odd at first, as I'm sure not many Americans know to do this, but the man is FROM Germany, working for an American company IN the U.S.

Edit: When dialing an international call from the U.S., every call starts with 011 - which is the U.S. Country Code. The general format is 011 + City Code + number.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL. The guy probably had the codes programmed into his cell phone, so he didn't have to worry. A question, though: Did you mean German country codes. Why would you use the American country code to call anywhere other than America?

Bridget said...

That is pretty silly.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the edit. We dial 011 to call Steve's family, and then 01 from there to call here. I thought the 011 was the UK code, as a result. Learn something everyday. :-)