Phone number rhythm

[Meegz]

So I was watching a Kevin James standup, and he was talking about his friends that cannot follow the phone number rhythm. Instead of "xxx, xxx, xx, xx" its just a bunch of numbers like "xxxxx....xxx...xx" you know how it goes

I get that a lot at my store, whether it be phone numbers or credit card numbers (over the phone). Sometimes it throws me off. To me, when reading a CC number, read it by the 4 digits at a time (ok, except for Amex, I can understand). But some people just dont do that. Anyone else have that problem?

It doesnt make me angry, just funny how some people read their numbers and sometimes it throws me off guard that I forget the numbers they are telling me.

[StanFlouride]

When I was married to my Venezuelan ex- I learned that people in other countries recite phone numbers quite differently. She always spoke them in pairs (i.e, thirty, twenty-one, seventeen, fifty-five, etc.)
I always found that distracting and somewhat difficult to envision or even write down. As an Army medic I was trained to always read out numbers one at a time and clearly so that above example would be: Three, Zero (never 'o'), Two, One, One, Seven, Five, Five and I still do and lately I have noticed that is the only way to speak to computers that have voice recognition.

[JustADude]

To me, when reading a CC number, read it by the 4 digits at a time (ok, except for Amex, I can understand). But some people just dont do that. Anyone else have that problem?

I have gotten to the point where I'll say "Please read me the card number, four at a time, whenever you're ready," to customers. Even an Amex works fine like that. You just end up with a group of 3 at the end.

[powerboy]

I wish that they would say 4 numbers at a time. The only cards that we accept is MasterCard & Visa

[rerant]

I've actually stopped people who don't have proper phone number rhythm and said, "I'm sorry, can you recite the number properly, one number at a time in the proper rhythmic fashion. It's easier to understand."
I'm sure the person on the other end made a nice face, but they need to learn.

[crazylegs]

It drives me nuts, with the exception of London most UK numbers are read like this XXXXX XXX XXX, anything other just blows my socks off and it takes me far longer to work out what's going on.

[ShadedWings]

I've had to deal with this several times, working in billing for an electric company. It's even worse when dealing with a Big Name account (such as a school or a multi-floor office building) where paying $5,000-$20,000 a month is normal, and our system won't take payments with a card higher than $600 at a time. At that point, despite rules against it, I just Copy-Pasted the card number into the field required. It was still horrible giving out all those confirmation numbers, doubly horrible if they repeated the numbers back in the same broken-rythm fashion. Ugh.

[MadonnaC]

I admit I have recided a phone number in an unusual format, but for 2 reasons

1. It's easire for me to remember
2. It's unusual and memorable, so easier for customer to remember, and call us back for more stuff

The number? (leaving out area code and country code so only about 6 people in the world would lightly find the place) 520 0300
That of course is the usual way of saying a number in that area, but I used 5 200 300

[GingerBiscuit]

It drives me nuts, with the exception of London most UK numbers are read like this XXXXX XXX XXX, anything other just blows my socks off and it takes me far longer to work out what's going on.

Oh, god yeah. Really bugs me. If someone is a new customer for Opticians, we have to take their phone number. The amount of people who repeat it XX XX XXX XXX X or something similar is just untrue.

They're worse with mobiles. It is easier for the person you are talking to if you recite your mobile somewhat like a landline number-
XXXXX XXX XXX.

With my card, I follow the digit seperation on the card itself, with breaks between to numbers that are the same of can sound the same.