Suckiness via TDD

[zzapp the witch]

What riled me up when I was younger was a secretary at the VA that would throw an absolute FIT if she had to use TDD for any reason. We have some veterans that are deaf, they need to schedule doctor's appointments, too!

Pretty bad when I, as a young teen volunteer, have to take the phone away from you while you stomp your feet and yell in the hallway horrible things about the deaf while I'm trying to get the relevant info from the patient through the poor operator that can hear everything you're saying in the background. Ugh, makes me want to smack some maturity into you. (Thank god she doesn't work there anymore).

All in all, I thought TDD was immensely cool as a kid.

And I have to agree, the deaf have every right to be SC's, too!

[friendofjimmyk]

I have had some experiences with the relay in my job at the call center, but the weirdest I ever experienced a call through them was while I was still using drugs. I associated with some unsavory, weird characters. One of them had only 30% of his hearing due to a childhood illness. He was the MOST paranoid dude I had EVER met. Meth has that effect on some people. He was the one who tried to convince my friend that the flies in her house were actually cameras planted there by the cops.

I had been working for a real estate investor - you know, the crooks that buy foreclosed houses, slap some paint on them, and then turn them for close to $25,000 profit or rent them out for outrageous amounts. Well, I had hired my "friend" to do some painting for me and he did just an awful job and only 1/4 of it. I figured I'd give him $30 for his efforts. I was also "slinging" at this time.

He called me one day through his relay service and the call went something like this:

Relay: Do you have my money go ahead
ME: No, I have not gotten paid yet. go ahead
Relay: Well, maybe we could work something else out go ahead
ME: I'll give you the money when I get paid for the job go ahead
Relay: Maybe you could give me some stuff for it go ahead
ME: What? go ahead
Relay: You know, maybe half a gram go ahead.

At that point I was flabbergasted...here was the most paranoid cat I knew talking through a third unknown party on open phone lines asking me for drugs.

ME: I don't know what you are talking about go ahead
Relay: You know. give me some ice for my work go ahead
ME: *I mutter under my breath - "fucking junkie"
(as if I were much better!) i then tell the relay person not to type that and her response was "I have to type everything"

So... I continued

ME: I dont' know what you are talking about, I'll pay you when I get paid. Good bye. Go ahead

Then there was some brief protesting on his part through the relay service which was just hilarious to me for some reason. Probably because I could see him getting all mad on the other end because I didn't agree to his terms. But to discuss it through the relay service just blew my mind!!!

[edit - I've been clean off drugs for 3 1/2 years]

[depechemodefan]

You should have replied "the flies are recording your conversation. Go ahead."

Man, that was a messed-up story. Funny though.

[Bliss]

You should have replied "the flies are recording your conversation. Go ahead."

Thanks. My left monitor is covered in little wet pieces of cookie. thanks a lot.

[Ulrika]

friendofjimmyk, your friend really wouldn't have to worry about the operator intercepting the message and calling the cops or anything like that. First of all it's against every rule in the confidentiality contract to say ANYTHING about a conversation that was relayed. Operators aren't allowed to call the cops about stuff like that. Secondly, even if it was allowed, or I just felt like breaking the rules, I would have absolutely zero information to track you down with. The call to the cops would go something like this:

911: What's your emergency?
Me: Yeah there's a deaf guy calling a chick about drugs somewhere in *your state*.
911: Um do you have anything else I could use to identify these people?
Me: He likes to type all in capital letters and she sounds kinda hot. I hope you can catch them.

Yeah, not gonna happen. Plus, phone sex, drug talk, and all that kind of stuff happens way too often to even try to care about.

I'm so glad I'm away from there and actually have a job that involves THINKING

[smileyeagle1021]

You should have replied "the flies are recording your conversation. Go ahead."

Man, that was a messed-up story. Funny though.

man, if I wasn't in love with my current sig I would so sig that line

[powerboy]

The one time that I had to deal with TDD, they were nice and respectful

[DesignFox]

We've gotten one or two TDD calls at the phone store. Unfortunately, both of these insane 14 hour phone calls didn't come from deaf people, but from scammers.

I tried my best because I thought they might really be deaf and in need of phone help, but alas, apparently people use the service to try to scam free phones.

We don't get those calls often, but unfortunately, we often won't accept them because of this. (I pass along the main customer service number for the company, to try and at least be a little helpful in case the person really IS deaf and needs help)

[Getoutofmylobby]

Here's an interesting update. When i clocked in this morning there was a masterfully written note next to the time clock.

"We are not able to accept any calls from deaf services until further notice."

Apparently the lady called back and spoke to my manager and according to the night auditor (who is also Pakistani) the combination of Angry Deaf Lady and our Not-The-Greatest-Grasp-Of-English Pakistani manager created a bit of a situation.

He obviously can't do that. I've since removed the note and wrote him one explaining why, but man I would have loved to listen in on that phone call.

[friendofjimmyk]

You should have replied "the flies are recording your conversation. Go ahead."

DAMN! Wish I would've thought of something like that while I was talking to him!

It was pretty funny.

[friendofjimmyk]

911: What's your emergency?
Me: Yeah there's a deaf guy calling a chick about drugs somewhere in *your state*.
911: Um do you have anything else I could use to identify these people?
Me: He likes to type all in capital letters and she sounds kinda hot. I hope you can catch them.

I can just picture that conversation. I figured that he knew there was some sort of confidentiality thing, however, if you would've just known this guy - it was so beyond anything I would've expected from him

Other things he used to do - put tape over the vents in the house because he thought they had cameras in them. Throw blankets over the television and stereo. He once told us that while we are watching tv - they are watching us to see what our reactions to the shows are. What else...

OH - he was one of the disassembling tweakers too - radios, televisions, ceiling fans, remote controls...you name it - he disassembled it.

[Ulrika]

Here's an interesting update. When i clocked in this morning there was a masterfully written note next to the time clock.

"We are not able to accept any calls from deaf services until further notice."

Apparently the lady called back and spoke to my manager and according to the night auditor (who is also Pakistani) the combination of Angry Deaf Lady and our Not-The-Greatest-Grasp-Of-English Pakistani manager created a bit of a situation.

He obviously can't do that. I've since removed the note and wrote him one explaining why, but man I would have loved to listen in on that phone call.

Yeah, that situation happens a lot. Just remembering those conversations, trying to get people to understand that:
I am not the person calling you, it's a deaf person who's communicating through me
No, I am not implying that you are deaf, the person who's calling you is.
No, not me. I'm not deaf either
Yes, technically I did call you, but I'm still not deaf.
No, the deaf person can't hear this, he's DEAF. I am typing it though.
Yes, typing. Everything you say. No, I can't just take a break from typing, I type everything.
No, this is not recorded in any government records.


And so on and so forth. *sigh* I kinda wish I could go back to that job like 1 day a week, just so I don't get soft from not dealing with those types.

[Samaliel]

friendofjimmyk, your friend really wouldn't have to worry about the operator intercepting the message and calling the cops or anything like that. First of all it's against every rule in the confidentiality contract to say ANYTHING about a conversation that was relayed. Operators aren't allowed to call the cops about stuff like that. Secondly, even if it was allowed, or I just felt like breaking the rules, I would have absolutely zero information to track you down with.

Isn't it illegal not to report these sort of things ? Mind you, I understand that the companies offering that kind of services have very strict policies about privacy an confidentiality, but if you are aware of something illegal going on and do not report it, technically, doesn't that make you some kind of an accomplice ?

Of course, if you don't have any piece of information that would make the report worthy of interest, I can understand not calling the cops ("Hello, I have a deaf drug dealer and his client on the line, but I have absolutely no idea about who they are and where they might be.")

[SteveZim1017]

We have 2 deaf clients where I work. one thats acually deaf and one that is only deaf when there is a problem with their Ins policy.

I only had one problem with the TDD person one time and it wasn't even a big deal just kinda funny. Our deaf client has a really long hard to pronounce name, so when the TDD guy read it, it was pronounced really oddly. So I asked the TDD man if he could just spell it for me instead (as the client had to have typed it to him in the first place). Instead I was very curtly told that he cannot interact with me in any way and all questions are to be directed to the client...

...so I asked the client to spell his name. which I can only imagine confused the heck out of him as he just typed it but now had to type it a second time, now with spaces in between.

[technical.angel]

I've only had a few TDD experiences in my time.

The most memorable last about 3 hours. Apparently, the guy was calling Claires, wanting to buy a chain. We do not sell necklaces without charms or something on them, and as everything is targeted to young girls. As he was wanting a chain to put a charm on for himself, we had nothing that fit what he wanted.

Then, he decided that he wanted to buy some, have me ship them to him, and he'd send back what didn't work for a refund...

The kicker?

He claimed he was overseas.