Wednesday, May 2, 2012

"I'm Old Fashioned"

Anytime there is any type of election coming up, there is a veritable flood of recorded messages from or about the candidates.  I, however, do not listen to such phone calls.  As soon as I recognize that the "caller" is a recording, I hang up.  If it is so important to get their message to the voting public, then have a live person call me.  I'm not too interested in political messages anyway, but I can guaran-damn-tee you, I will not waste my time listening to a recording.  I have other things to do.

It used to be limited to political messages, but these days there are all sorts of charities, companies, and causes which have opted to invade my life with their messages.  Its annoying, but I don't listen to those either.  You want my attention?  Well, siccing a recording on me is not the way to get it!!

Now there is a new wrinkle.  It started with interactive "customer service" menus that require input from my end.  Evidently these things can be set up to pick up certain words and that puts you on whatever track to get to the next question on your way through automated hell, trying to speak to a company person about any number of things.  Those annoy me as well, as the options offered never seem to quite fit my needs.  If it gets too complicated I either hang up in frustration or stick with it until I can confuse it enough so that it connects me to a person.

Although, I don't care for these types of calls, I at least know going in, that the voice is computer generated and react accordingly (hanging up!)  With this new wrinkle the line between real and computer voices is much less clear.

It's happened twice now. The first time it was easy to tell, but the second time it took me a while to figure it out.    The "conversation" went like this::

CALLER:  Good afternoon.  How are you today?

ME:  I'm fine thank you.  And you?

CALLER:  I'm fine.  Thank you for asking.  I'd like to speak with Michael ____ please.

ME:  I'm sorry.  He's not available.

CALLER:   Oh, well, I'll call back another time.  There's no message.

ME:  Well, I'm Mrs. ____.  Could I help you?

CALLER:  Oh sure, I can talk with you.  That'd be great.

ME:  What can I do for you?

(a couple of clicks)

CALLER:  Good afternoon. How are you today?

ME: What?   Is this a recording???!!

CALLER  I'm fine.  Thank you for ask......(voice continuing)

ME:  I can't BELIEVE this!!   (Hang up)


I swear, until the clicks, I had no idea it was a recording!!  The voice seemed to be responding to my input appropriately.  The voice didn't sound at all mechanical or fake.  It sounded real enough to fool me.  Evidently something triggered a restart, or I might not have known even then!

Technology just keeps getting sneakier and sneakier!!  Recordings that seem to be a real person!! I ask you!  I don't know about you, but that sort of thing leaves me feeling duped, foolish, and annoyed!  Seriously annoyed!!  Unfortunately I hung up before I learned who was calling and why, so I can't even contact them to complain!

I have a phone for MY convenience, not for the convenience of those who want only to sell me something!

I guess "I'm Old Fashioned"....my phone is for conversations with people not machines!  



8 comments:

  1. Call me old fashioned too cause I totally agree with you! I so dislike those automated systems that attempt to "help" me. Like you I plod through the automated features to get a human to talk with. And I ALWAYS hang up on solicitations of every type!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mel, you hit the nail on the head with this one. I HATE those kinds of calls. I get mighty tired of them. I got one yesterday telling me that I could extend the limit on my credit card by calling such and such number. Funny thing is, I don't own a credit card. Haven't for five years.
    Then there was the one last night where a loan company called looking for ______. I said,"are you kidding me? _____ was married to my son 12 years ago for about 4 months. If she owes you money, forget it. You'll never get it. And, if you do happen to find her, please do the world a favor, and just shoot her." The caller said she was sorry for bothering me and hung up. What cheek!!! LOL!

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    Replies
    1. Dee has left a new comment on your post ""I'm Old Fashioned"":

      My blood boils just reading about the recordings. I hang up also. I sure wish I could have seen the face of the collector who you told to shoot your ex daughter-n-law. LOL.



      Posted by Dee to Mellodee musings.... at May 2, 2012 4:42 PM

      Linda Durkin
      9:10 PM (0 minutes ago)

      to Dee
      Dee,

      I'll forward your comment about his ex daughter in law to my blog buddy, Jimmie Earl. His comment on my blog is where he told about his ex dil. (Confusing isn't it??) Not to worry, I agree with you, the caller certainly must have been at least surprised!!:)

      Mellodee

      Delete
  3. I've not had one of these yet, but I'm not surprised. I never answer the phone unless I recognize the number, though. I love my caller ID:)

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  4. This is the real world, but, unfortunately, few things are real.

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  5. That is totally bizarre! It hasn't happened to me yet!

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  6. Oh this did make me laugh.
    My mother talks to the regular recordings and is always incensed when they don't let her "get a word in edgewise!".
    I have to confess, I pretty much detest the phone in the best of circumstances!

    ReplyDelete
  7. oh dear! That has not happened to me yet...I think i would get annoyed!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for leaving a comment. It's really nice knowing what you think!! Besides, comments keep me from feeling like I'm here all by myself!! :)

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