A Phew Phacts About Phones

Phone book: This is a picture of the 2011 Botswana phone book. Yes, that's right; one phone book for the entire country. (I mean, there are lots of copies of it, but it covers the whole country). I can't even imagine how thick a phone book for the entire USA would be. Thank God for the internet.

Receptionists: I recently had occasion to call local professionals at their businesses and ended up leaving messages with various receptionists. I told one receptionist my name (and even spelled it for her), who I was calling for, where I was calling from, why I was calling, etc. Then, when I began to recite my phone number she said, "hold on, let me get a pen." All along, I thought she WAS writing down all of the important details I had been relaying. Oh well. Often times, receptionists do not take messages, but rather tell you that the person is out and, if you're lucky, when a good time to call back might be.

Cell phone etiquette: You only have to pay for outgoing calls, so people seem to go to extraordinary lengths to answer incoming calls on their cell phones. (If you manage to answer the incoming call, you avoid incurring the fees associated with outgoing calls if you had had to return the call). In business and social settings it seems perfectly accepted that people leave their cell phones on and answer them whenever they ring.

Accessibility: Everyone seems to have a cell phone. This may contribute to the slimness of the phone book- I think it only covers land lines. There are three major carriers and, from what I can tell, most people us pre-paid service. You buy a sim card and then 'load' it with airtime. You can buy airtime anywhere-- or, as they say, 'where-eva, when-eva.'

Texting: SMS or Text messages are very popular. I frequently see a line of people sitting on a bench or curb looking down as if they were reading novels. Upon closer examination- they are most likely sending or reading SMS's.