Culture Shock #47: If there's no email confirmation...

 ...did you actually make the appointment? Will it actually take place on the day and at the time that you requested? 

Turns out, the answers to these questions depends on where you live.

If you are in the U.S. and you make an appointment and you receive no email confirmation OR email reminder the day beforehand, the appointment will not happen. You probably didn't successfully make it in the first place, you just thought you did. Even if the appointment miraculously does happen, lord knows you won't be there, because you were relying on the email to remind you when and where it was. 

If you are in Germany and you make an appointment and you receive an email confirmation and/or an email reminder the day before, congratulations! You have found one of the three institutions that decided digitalizating their system wouldn't also summon the devil on the premises. No but actually, when you call (yes, CALL) the hairdresser or doctor or dentist or restaurant to make an appointment or reservation, you better write the time and date and address down, because chances are, you will not hear from that establishment again. You will hang up the call and feel the essence of the conversation float into the ether, with no email in your inbox a couple minutes later to confirm that you were indeed brave enough to call in the first place. 

So the context behind this post is I'm becoming infamous at my eye doctor. Growing up in an email confirmation culture makes me feel like I've got the memory of a goldfish. In the span of a month, I called my eye doctor three times to order contacts, forgetting that I'd already called and ordered them. Look, if I'm not getting emails every couple days confirming that I called, that my order is processing, that it'll be ready any day now, thank you very much for remaining a loyal customer, have you considered getting new frames by the way?, 5 Signs You Might Have Eye Cancer...how do I know that I called in the first place??