My job today was to count phones.
New phone system got put in, down at Casa Aloha Corporate H.Q., and all the old phones had to go. So I end up in a room with about five hundred near-obsolescent touch tone phones of various makes and model numbers. It's weird to see that many dead phones in one place.
So my mind started wandering, and as I placed another 4820D Lucent phone in a pile of likewise phones, stumbled on the question, "How many words have been spoken over this phone? How many words have been spoken over the 500 dead phones in this room?" It's gotta be a lot.
According to "ask jeeves," who couldn't give me a straight answer - but nevertheless gave me some stats to start with..."In fact, the average phone conversation for a guy lasts six minutes. Average phone conversation for a woman: 20 minutes"
A daily analysis brings forth this little nugget..."The number of words an average guy speaks a day is 12,000 to 14,000. The number of words an average woman speaks is nearly twice that: 24,000 to 26,000." Hmmmm...Interesting dichotomy, but it doesn't quite help.
So - these, I'm guessing are stats relating to personal communication, not business communication, but - we can subtract, say 50% of those numbers when dealing purely with business. So, we've got fellas talking 3 minutes, and gals talking 10. That's a 6.5 minute average phone conversation. Now, just guessing, that words in a conversation (both listening and talking) come at about 40 per minute, we're talking about 260 words per average conversation. Average 10 conversations per day is 2600 words a day. Possibly 52,000 words a month, or 624,000 words a year. Looping in a random 10 years, cause I'm just guessing - one phone could probably handle 6 million 240 thousand words before it becomes obsolete.
Now, with the 500 dead phones I was looking at, is 3,120,000,000 individual separate words spoken through the phones in that room. That's almost enough words to get something done...almost.
Well, there ya go, I thought it was interesting at the time.
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6 comments:
I work in a job where I am required to contact at least 30 people day but on average I have 45 seperate conversations per day and I get nothing done. The fact that I am filling coporate coffers is little consolation for my verabl expenditure.
....I'd like to know how many phones are actually thrown out of windows each year...I'd also like to contribute one more.
Hey Mitch...I was sort of wondering if I had my figures right. Like, how many words do you actually use in the course of a conversation. Is 40 per minute about right? I'd be interested on your pro-take on this important issue!
Thanks for swingin' by.
Oh, D.T.
You forgot, most women use business phones for personal convos. (Yes ladies, just admit it and get it over with.) So I think you have to recalc. I can't do it. I'm on VACATION! YEEEY!!!
Rican
I refuse to recalculate. My figures are LAW!!!
muhahahaha...
damnit, you are erking the accountant in me.
Doll - yer one ina million...
NOW OBEY MY FIGURES!!!
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