What do you tell people when you invite them over?

[TheRoo]

How can an presumably fully functioning adult not know their address? Twice this week, people gave me the wrong address. The first one, I looked at the address, and I knew right away that it did not exist. I call them after I drop off my last delivery, and ask them their address. xyz nth Ave NE she says. I tell her I think there is a park there, and she tries to explain where she lives, but gets flustered and hands off the phone to someone else.

He says we are on nth St (not nth Ave), and I ask his address. He tells me xyz nth St NE, which of course I knew exactly where that is.

The second one gave me an address that I did not know wasn't there until I got on the right block. It was an even address, but when I called him, he was on the odd side of the street.

It is a good thing that the fire department has all that high tech stuff that tells them a callers address instead of relying on these idiots to give them the right one.

[freaktard]

For me it was always people from really small towns. When we ordered something for them, we needed a street address so UPS could find them. They would invariably give me a PO Box number. When I told them I needed a street address, they would always insist that they didn't have one.

Every house in America has a street address, people!

[SuperB]

For me it was always people from really small towns. When we ordered something for them, we needed a street address so UPS could find them. They would invariably give me a PO Box number. When I told them I needed a street address, they would always insist that they didn't have one.

Every house in America has a street address, people!

Actually, you'd be surprised how many place don't have actual street addresses like you're used to. For a long while one place we had was Lot X, town, south of hwy X. In fact, I do believe the utility company still has it listed that way. Residents had to name the shared easment and create their own addresses but they definitely weren't legal. Up here, UPS will deliver to the post office.

(And then I heard Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a Redneck if the directions to your house include the statement 'Turn off the paved road'")

[Primer]

(And then I heard Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a Redneck if the directions to your house include the statement 'Turn off the paved road'")

Does it count of the directions include, "continue for .8 mile after the pavement ends?"

[CaroPhoenix]

I should have known that my In-Laws would give me trouble. They now live on Peabody road or something like that name, but before the road was named (for 911 purposes), they lived off of Route 666.

[protege]

Every house in America has a street address, people!

Not all of them do. Up until recently, several areas in rural SW PA still used R.D. numbers, or route names. That changed a few years ago because of 911. It still throws people for a loop when I give them directions--many of the road names I knew are no longer there!

In fact, when the kid wrecked his bike a couple of years back, I had to make sure the 911 person knew where I was talking about--she knew what state route it happened on, but wasn't sure of the cross street. I gave her a few landmarks--the "XYZ Horse Farm," Grandma's "big red brick house on the corner, " and a rough distance (3 miles) outside of town. I'm sure she knew where I meant, but I wasn't willing to take a chance.

[Andara Bledin]

Yup. Until the 911 thing my aunt's street in Vermont didn't really have an official name. You wouldn't have found it listed in the index of the Thomas guide. She had an RR (Rural Route) address and everthing was held at the post office.

^-.-^

[Bella_Vixen]

My grandmother lives in Oklahoma. For years, we sent mail to semi-generic address, that consited of, if I remember correctly, ONLY a route number. No house number, no nothing.

Finally, when she felt it was important to because of her age , did she send out an actual street address with a house number, for emergancy purposes.

[BusBus]

I usually have a similar problem with postal codes....

"Sir, what is your postal code?"
"Uhh.......I dunno....." *eyes glaze over, drool starts to accumulate around lower lip*

By this point, if you've been good, I'll look it up on the internet. If you have pissed me off, you get the big book of postal codes.

And folks, "CANADA" does not equal postal code. I'm sure that we won't accidently send you something to an address in New Westminster, Syria.

[Witch of Endor]

Yeah, I grew up in a rural part of Canada, and while I knew my whole address, the postal code was for a nearby town... it was not an address that would be useful for anyone trying to find my house.

At some point we were assigned emergency addresses, which look like street addresses and have a number and road name in them. But we still had to include the RR#1 to get stuff mailed to us.

[tamezin]

For me it was always people from really small towns. When we ordered something for them, we needed a street address so UPS could find them. They would invariably give me a PO Box number. When I told them I needed a street address, they would always insist that they didn't have one.

Every house in America has a street address, people!

My mom lived in a town like that. She didn't know her street address for three years. The town was so small she didn't even need to know her PO Box number, she would just tell people to send stuff to Jan Doe in Cornholio, NE. with the correct zip (she could remember that because she had to)

[auntiem]

When my sister lived in rural Vermont - her emergency address was: "RR# 3.5 miles from the yellow blinking light". She has since moved into town (well, it has a main street, a market and a church) and has a street address. Everyone there was so excited when they put up street name signs after 911, but quickly found out that the official name of the street isn't what they had been calling it all these years. For me, that makes getting directions in Vermont even more of a mind melter than it once was. They should issue two maps in Vermont - the cartographer's and the local's.

[MadMike]

Not all of them do. Up until recently, several areas in rural SW PA still used R.D. numbers, or route names.

Almost the whole county where I used to live was like that. Much of that has changed now, but some of the more rural areas still don't have house numbers. My dad's house is one of them. The street he's on doesn't even have a name, only a route number.

If I wanted to invite someone over, I'd tell them, "The house with all the trees in the front yard, right across the street from the church." Yes, I grew up next to a church, and it didn't do me a damn bit of good.

[Andara Bledin]

When my sister lived in rural Vermont - her emergency address was: "RR# 3.5 miles from the yellow blinking light". She has since moved into town (well, it has a main street, a market and a church) and has a street address. Everyone there was so excited when they put up street name signs after 911, but quickly found out that the official name of the street isn't what they had been calling it all these years. For me, that makes getting directions in Vermont even more of a mind melter than it once was. They should issue two maps in Vermont - the cartographer's and the local's.

Yup. That's how it was for my aunt, too.

I have no idea what the street used to be, but now it's called Powder Springs Rd.

^-.-^

[auntiem]

I'll bet the locals still give directions calling Badger Creek Road or somesuch.