I don’t live in a suburb
An irritant that never fails to bug me is how many companies and organisations assume that everyone lives in a city or suburb.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve filled out a form in hard copy or on the web, and when you come to describe the place where you live, the question field asks for “Suburb” or “City”.
Porepunkah is a town or village. There are 500 residents here. We don’t live in a city or a suburb. There are thousands of other people who live in similar small communities or in isolated rural districts.
Unsurprisingly, Telstra is a repeat offender in this regard.
The latest example I came across is for the Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay.
The relay is passing through Porepunkah, and having been unfit and demotivated at the time of the Olympic Relay in 2000, I decided to put my name forward.
Follow the link and you will see that not only was I asked to identify my suburb, but also my city!! Presumably the form was designed for residents of the metropolis to add “Melbourne” or “Sydney” after their suburb.
I bit my tongue, entered Porepunkah for suburb and left city blank, only to have the form submission rejected.
Having spent several years stewing on this subject, I think I’ll turn this blog into a “Suburb Watch” and name all those transgressors who refuse to recognise that many people live outside the capital cities.
If you can add to the example I cited above please post a link here …
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
May 3rd, 2005 at 8:58 pm
Urbi et orbe, my friend, every home have a Homer Simpson reality. Suburbia is not a minus city, is satellite homes with no name for urban people. Like asteroids.