Building Numbers

Buildings have numbers!

OMG! I know, right?!

You would think that would be the end of the post, but I feel obligated to explain further. Since, apparently, my prior assumption that EVERYONE KNOWS THIS ALREADY was an incorrect assumption.

Unique building numbers designate the location of the building and, importantly, differentiate them from other buildings.

Pretty smart, right? I mean, what will humanity come up with next?

Now, to be fair, buildings can have the same number, but not on the same street. Building A cannot have the same building number as Building B on the same street. That would make things problematic, as you could probably imagine, right? Right.

There are, admittedly, times when building numbers are very close. Let me give you an example: If my office building number was 1234, the building that is next to ours could be something like 1244. Close, but not the same. Yet, many people end up going to the 3rd floor of the 1244 building and get all miffed that our office is nowhere in sight. There are many-a-time when we get calls with people accusing us of "you said your office was on the 3rd floor, but the people up here said you're not here."

You're right. We're not on the 3rd floor of 1244 what-have-you street. We're on the 3rd floor of 1234 what-have-you.

I find the different psychologies of humanity fascinating. Mostly. When I do something obviously dumb and then get caught, I am generally embarrassed when called out. Like, hypothetically, when someone reveals my embarrassing lack of skill in reading something as basic as a street address.

Based on the number of irate calls received by my office in the past month, though, it seems I would be in the minority. Why, good sir, are you calling with the claim that we're not where we said we would be? We're at the right location. In fact, we haven’t moved. You, sir or madam, are in the wrong location. Also, even if you couldn't actually read the numbers, you could literally just compare the shapes to see if they're the same. A very young child that doesn't even speak the same language as you could tell you that 1234 does not match 1244. And, for the love of all that is holy, make sure you're actually in the correct place before blowing up our office phone with attitude that is neither wanted nor warranted.

Thanks.