What Grinds Our Gears: Automated phone lines

Do you know the feeling where you are missing a package or something, and the only way to get your package back is to call the “help” number? But how helpful is it, really? Most of these big corporate companies are too large to have someone sitting over the phone to help with every little issue. So, they have delegated these conversations to robots. 

“Press one for tracking and deliveries, press two for lost packages, press three to repeat this menu.” 

Like, hello! I am calling to talk to another human being!!! And then when there is a human being button, I’m transferred to a never-ending queue with awful elevator music. 

But to add to the irritation — some of these automated systems are getting so realistic. For the longest time they sounded obviously robotic. But not anymore! Now I don’t even know if I’m talking to someone real or to a robot. It’s sad, actually. 

Was this article helpful?

LEAVE A REPLY

Block title

Metro-Con brings horror legends and cosplay to Convocation Mall

Something wicked came to SFU Convocation Mall the weekend of October 16–18, and that something was Metro-Con. The annual pop-culture convention “hosts celebrities and influential people in film, books, animation, entertainment, and more,” according to the Metro-Con website.  The convention featured many attractions and events, with daily opportunities for fans to meet celebrity guests and listen to panelists speak. On Friday, a Stars of Cosplay event brought five BC-based cosplayers to the main stage, including Dragonmight, a cosplayer who advocates for “mental health and suicide prevention awareness,” according to their Instagram. In the evening, an after-hours kickoff party took place, one of two Metro-Con After Dark events that weekend.  On Saturday at 5:30 p.m., the cosplay contest ensued at the main stage, the Diamond Family Auditorium....

Read Next

Block title

Metro-Con brings horror legends and cosplay to Convocation Mall

Something wicked came to SFU Convocation Mall the weekend of October 16–18, and that something was Metro-Con. The annual pop-culture convention “hosts celebrities and influential people in film, books, animation, entertainment, and more,” according to the Metro-Con website.  The convention featured many attractions and events, with daily opportunities for fans to meet celebrity guests and listen to panelists speak. On Friday, a Stars of Cosplay event brought five BC-based cosplayers to the main stage, including Dragonmight, a cosplayer who advocates for “mental health and suicide prevention awareness,” according to their Instagram. In the evening, an after-hours kickoff party took place, one of two Metro-Con After Dark events that weekend.  On Saturday at 5:30 p.m., the cosplay contest ensued at the main stage, the Diamond Family Auditorium....

Block title

Metro-Con brings horror legends and cosplay to Convocation Mall

Something wicked came to SFU Convocation Mall the weekend of October 16–18, and that something was Metro-Con. The annual pop-culture convention “hosts celebrities and influential people in film, books, animation, entertainment, and more,” according to the Metro-Con website.  The convention featured many attractions and events, with daily opportunities for fans to meet celebrity guests and listen to panelists speak. On Friday, a Stars of Cosplay event brought five BC-based cosplayers to the main stage, including Dragonmight, a cosplayer who advocates for “mental health and suicide prevention awareness,” according to their Instagram. In the evening, an after-hours kickoff party took place, one of two Metro-Con After Dark events that weekend.  On Saturday at 5:30 p.m., the cosplay contest ensued at the main stage, the Diamond Family Auditorium....