411 101A

I decided the world needs a training course on how to use directory assistance. Today's lesson is going to discus the first words you will hear from a 411 operator 95% of the time.

What City And State Please?

In order to find a telephone number the operator needs to know where it is listed. We're not asking you what city and state you are in. We don't care where you are. As a matter of fact, we have Caller ID on our phone lines so we already know where you are. How else would we be able to charge you for your calls? We're not asking you to guess where we are, and there isn't a contest to see if you can guess the mystery city of the day. When we ask "What city and state, please" you are supposed to tell us where the business is located, or where the person lives. Sometimes when I ask people that they have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. It's like they have never called 411 before in their life. These are the people that probably have to read the directions on a box of Poptarts.

I've lost track of how many times I searched and searched for a listing in Dallas, TX only to have the caller tell me "Oh, it's not in Dallas, it's in Fort Worth." Well why did you say Dallas when I asked you what city? I can understand in areas where you're not sure if the business is in one city or the next. That doesn't bother me very much because once we realize the listing isn't in the city requested our computers can expand the search to the neighboring areas. But if you are 50 or a 100 miles from the location of the number you're looking for the computer won't look that far.

So when we ask you what city and state, just tell us what we need to know. Make sure you say the city and the state, because you would be surprised how many city names are used in multiple states. There is a Pasadena, CA and a Pasadena TX, an Inglewood CA and an Englewood CO, etc. And then there are the cities that sound the same. Cities like Fort Henry and Port Henry, or Marysville and Murysville. It's up to you to give us the information we need to find the number you're looking for. If we were psychic you wouldn't have to say anything. As soon as we answered your call we would tell you the number you needed, or we could call you.