The Guardian Weekly

NOTES & QUERIES

Hang on! Why must we play the waiting game? Why do companies always experience higher-thannormal call volumes?

It’s a euphemism for bluntly asking you to endlessly wait, brought about by staff cuts. David Catchlove Newport, NSW, Australia

• It is an excuse for: “We don’t have enough folks to answer your call. And hope you go away.” Martin Lodge

San Diego, California, US

• It really ought to be an offence for a company to make itself de facto uncontactable by its customers. Why doesn’t consumer law cover this? Blanny via theguardian.com

Jane’s plain speaking Are there any universal home truths?

Ask Jane Austen.

Robert Morgan Gt Missenden, England, UK • It is a universal human truth that we shall all eventually die. Belief in what happens to us then is not universal, depending on one’s religious or secular outlook. It may be a universal truth that we shall find out!

Michael Smith Betchworth, England, UK

• As a senior citizen, I am very aware of this truth: nothing lasts for ever. Ursula Nixon Bodalla, NSW, Australia

• Birth, followed by life, progressing towards natural or unforeseeably, irreversible, inevitable, permanently, unconscious death. Yugan Mudaliar Sydney, NSW, Australia

An expensive lesson What’s the appropriate response to a friend who says they are sending their child to a private school?

Congratulations. I note that your child was able to pass the strict entrance examination. The examination being, of course, the size of the parents’ bank account. Derek Malpass Hohenthann, Germany

Thyme is on our side What sort of people have time to follow complicated recipes?

Ones who have too much thyme on their hands. Alexandra Glashan Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Any answers?

What would you like your phone to do that it doesn’t already do?

Ned Noel Wamboin, NSW, Australia

How can you prevent dogs jumping at children? How should I respond?

Tracey Lewis Diss, England, UK

Diversions

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2021-08-06T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-08-06T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://theguardianweekly.pressreader.com/article/282565906187213

Guardian/Observer