The working week got off to a bad start for thousands of people across the country after their mobile phone alarms went off an hour early — and computers were thrown into chaos.
The “Monday madness” was caused when handsets and electrical equipment jumped back an hour to adjust to daylight saving — three weeks after the official change over.
“My alarm went off — and it felt very early. But I didn’t question it until I was about to walk out the door and saw the clock on the stove,” a Sydney nurse told ninemsn.
“And now my scanning equipment is showing the wrong time. What a nightmare — I wish I could just go back home to bed”.
The confusion was caused when NSW, Victoria, South Austalia, Tasmania and the ACT decided to synchronise the start of daylight saving bring it back to October 5 — instead of October 26.
Phones went into time warp on Sunday although most people didn’t notice until getting up for work this morning.
Hundreds of ninemsn readers have written in about their morning from hell while others have seen the funnier side of the time change farce.
"I didn't get to bed 'til nearly 2am — not for lack of desire to go to bed either — and I use my phone as the alarm," Cammy from Nowra said.
"I had to be at work at 6am, so I had to get up about 5.30am … it wasn't that nice waking up at 4.30 instead!
"Well done to the mobile phone companies for that balls up!"
Cinders from Melbourne said she felt like she was in an episode of The Twilight Zone.
"I called the phone number on my mobile that tells you the time and it wasn't connecting … it left me feeling a bit disorientated, questioning myself, wondering if what I thought I knew was real or imagined," she said.
The bungle even left some people red-faced.
"I should apologise to my godson … I had the nerve to accuse him of tampering with my phone when I left it with him on the couch," James from Garfield in Victoria said.
"And then I gave him another spray for lying to me when he denied touching it."
Telstra had predicted this may happen — and had warned owners of newer mobiles they may need to turn them off and on.
