This one always amuses me. If I can't understand English, how can I follow the directions? Of course, if you think about it the "intuitive" option (Press 1 for English) is also just as annoying, if I do speak English, then I have to go to the alternate menu. The only other (politically correct) choice is to give directions in Spanish to the other menu, which I've only heard once.
We use the phone everyday, for going on a century now, and yet, I find it to have some of the poorest user interfaces (UI) of any device out there. I think that as each new feature comes along, they just tack it on to the rest, without thinking about how they interact.
I just added my 5 favorites to my phone service, despite the fact that I'm still short 4 of them. Now I admit it. I write about, among other things, computer architecture, but I'm a total Luddite. At least in the sense that I will play with something for a while, but if I find the UI non-intuitive or impennetrable, then I simply ignore most higher functions unless I find a driving need for them. I'm not the kind of techie who gets a toy and immediately figures out everything about it. For instance, if I do something wrong when dialing, all I know to do is shut the phone and reopen it. Maybe there is some better way, maybe not. There is no more obvious way, and when I saw a fairly intelligent friend of mine do the same thing, my insecurity complex was somewhat mollified. In fact, because I have studied UI, and love UI, in my hubris, I may be the worst user in the world. As soon as I get to something that is illogical, non-functional, non-standard, or just plain dumb, I shut down.
Back to the 5. So now that I have this 5, or actually 1, the "5 faves" menu sits on top of all of the other menus. What a pain in the ass! As an example, if I just called somebody and got disconnected (which happens for instance every time I drive by Mr. Gates's house...) I can't just hit the "call button" and call them back. If they are not on my 5 faves, then I have to either: punch in the buttons, go back to one of my call logs, or look them up in my phone book. Maybe it's a sign of my unpopularity that I get disconnected much more than I call my "fave," but I have found this to be really unhandy. Especially now that they have made driving and calling officially illegal here in WA (before it was just a genetic problem), I don't want to be fumbling with the phone while I'm driving.
Why do I need a special top level menu, or a menu at all? I already have speed dial for certain names, why can't the phone just know which of my contacts is a "fave"? Say I'm 12 and my parents somehow got sucked into giving me a phone. Wow, how cool would it be to have a menu because that's basically all I'm using the phone for anyway. Fine. We could make that the special 12 and under option. But for actual functioning adults changing the entire UI to add another feature is simply incomprehensible. Worse, this feature is supposed to be a time-saver, but in the long run, it is taking a lot more of my time. Do you see a metaphor here? Well, I'll invent one for you: How many other "time savers" really make our life more difficult in the long run? We wouldn't accept these poor UIs if we really stopped to think about them.
What about call waiting? I'd give anything (except for reading the directions) to know how to turn this off on my phone. Worse, I'm probably paying extra for it.
Call waiting is one of the rudest things on the planet, and what's more, it replaces an almost perfect example of UI: the busy signal. Think about it. If I call you, why would I want to be interrupted by another call? If you call me, and I deign to take the call, then it's certainly rude for me to step away from that call. It's saying "I'm sorry, somebody more important is on the other line, I'll get back to you. You don't mind waiting do you? " (Usually, that last part is just implied, nobody even asks. If you put me on call waiting, I'll just hang up - it's amazing how offended people get by that!)
The busy signal, on the other hand, is perfect. It let's me know you are, um, busy. I can call you back, or in these days of automation preferably go directly to voice mail. I just think this is one of many examples of our concept that we are "so busy" these days and use this as an excuse to be rude. "Well, my time is more important than your time, you will just have to put up with these interruptions." This attitude is a dehumanizing element of of our society, upon which many of the situations on this page are founded. We need to take the time, settle down and really listen to the messages we are giving people, and if we decide to interact with them, respect them enough to complete the interaction courteously.
Another thing I wish I could turn off is this message I get every time I delete a message from voice mail "you have deleted the message, to undelete press 1." Okay already, I get it. Please, stop!
