Filing Woes

 Today's story is a recycled one from 2013 and bears repeating.  Please enjoy.

Not all of America is digitized.  My Mother, who is well into her 80’s, is.  She recently bought a new laptop computer and uses it with aplomb.  But, she still relies on a Rolodex to maintain most of her telephonic contacts.

 

For those of you too young to remember record albums, a Rolodex is a desktop device that holds small cards attached to rings that permit its user to flip through them.  There are alphabetical separators to allow for quick retrieval of names and associated numbers and any other data desired that is placed on the cards by the user.  Often, addresses, birthdays, or other critical information can be included to assist the user and make them more efficient, or appear so.

 

Although somewhat antiquated, a Rolodex has its place as a powerful tool to find contacts in an otherwise automated world.

 

While visiting my Mother, she needed to find a phone number of a friend of hers which led to the emergence of her Rolodex, which is where this story begins.

 

She was searching for an out-of-town lady friend named “Bobbie.”  After thumbing through this Rolodex, she displayed some facial frustration.

 

“Can’t find it?” I asked.

 

“I know it’s in here.  I’m just not sure where,” was her reply.

 

A Rolodex in action

Logic would dictate it should have been filed under either “B” for Bobbie or under “J” for Johnson, Bobbie’s surname.  It wasn’t under either.  Pirate Blackbeard could find his loot along the North Carolina coast easier than we could locate Bobbie’s number.

 

Mom is a pretty-well organized person with her tax paperwork in the appropriate folder, banking stuff in another, and her medications arranged according to times of application.  Unfortunately her phone number filing system isn’t that efficient.

 

“Try looking under ‘F’ for friend,” she offered.

 

No dice.  I even checked under “P” for pal, and “A” for acquaintance, to no avail.

 

Eventually we found it filed under “C” for Christmas as she sends Bobbie an annual Christmas card.  No lie.

 

Searching this filing nightmare for a doctor is also grueling.  Rather than filing her doctors under “D”, she files them under their names – some under their first, others under their last, and even others under their specialty such as ‘podiatrist.’

 

Such treasure hunts are unnerving coming from a woman who places her spices in the cupboard alphabetically.

 

Since Mom also uses a cell phone, I offered to transfer these paper numbers into her cell phone directory.  She expressed consternation about being able to find them once in that electronic directory.  Do we file them by first name or last name?

 

We need a filing convention to simplify this otherwise daunting task of sorting and e-filing phone numbers.

 

Much like a shady business, we’re going to have to set up two sets of numbers for her.  It appears as though she’ll end up with one set of just phone numbers and the other with addresses.  Otherwise, most of her Rolodex contacts will be in the Christmas card section.  Except for the eye doctor and podiatrist, that is.