Triangle Trip

So I’m on this United flight sitting in an aisle seat reading a book when a flight attendant comes by with a coffee tray.

“Sir, he wants coffee.” I look up and he’s clearly talking to me. I’m thoroughly puzzled. “Excuse me?” I ask. I don’t even drink coffee.

“The gentleman next to you wants coffee.” I’m still confused. Does he want me serve the guy next to me coffee? I give the flight attendant a puzzled look.

“Can you please take a cup and hold it while I pour coffee for the gentleman next to you?” Wait, what? The guy next to me has no hands or what? I look over at the guy next to me; he has all his hands and his arms are long enough to reach over the length of my narrow seat.

Grudgingly I pick up a cup from the tray and hold it while the flight attendant pours coffee for the guy next to me. Once he is done I give it to the guy next to me.

I’ve always complained about service or rather the non-existence of it on United. Now it has hit an all-time low.

Or maybe I’m just a jerk.

Recently, the New York Times had an article describing iPhone users’ frustrations with AT&T: dropped calls, missed calls, late voicemails, etc.  If you have a Google Voice number (or even a home landline with an answering machine would suffice), there are small ways in which you can alleviate some of this awful AT&T service. (The tips below should work with any cell phone on the ridiculous AT&T network and not just iPhones.)

For one, if you have ever been frustrated with calls that you never ever received because of AT&T’s poor service, you can have AT&T forward calls to your Google Voice number when you are not reachable on AT&T’s network (which unfortunately happens way too much).  On your cell phone, simply dial *62* plus your 10-digit number Google Voice number to which your calls should be forwarded and then #.  This will forward all your calls to your Google Voice number when you are not reachable on your cell phone.  Google Voice keeps track of all missed and received calls.  Or even a home landline with caller ID in place of Google Voice works well too.

Secondly, if you’ve ever received voicemails several hours or even days after the fact (which annoyingly has happened to me a lot with important voicemails), you can setup to have all your calls forwarded to your Google Voice number or a home answering machine if you do not answer your cell phone.  On your cell phone, simply dial *61* plus the 10-digit number to which your calls should be forwarded and #.  This will enable the caller to reach your Google Voice voicemail or your home answering machine, bypassing AT&T voicemail altogether.  Visual voicemail is overrated anyhow.

Lastly, if you’ve just been sick and tired of AT&T’s poor service to the point that you don’t care to answer any calls on your iPhone altogether, you can have all your calls immediately be forwarded to a different number: simply dial *21* plus the 10-digit number to which your calls should be forwarded and #.

AT&T… More bars in more places?  Are they drunk (pun intended)?