Are we really to believe when our phone companies lines are
busy they actually mean what they say about it?
When
the line does ring through after being busy a while, that
is only the beginning. You get a recording telling you “Your
call is important to us.” As this is repeated over and
over should we actually believe our call is important? We also
get the message “All representatives are busy at this
time, but please stay on the line.” Do they really
think we would hang up after we spent so long getting past
the busy
signal?
You
may then get a recording that announces, “Your call
will be answered in the order it was received.” How
do we know what order we are in? And how do we know how
many are
waiting ahead of us?
We
finally get through and the sun has not set on the day but
now we face a battery of questions that need decisions.
First
one is always, “If you wish to proceed in English, press
one” followed by “If you prefer Spanish, press
two.” I think if the Spanish speaking people can
understand the English recording, why would they need
to press two.
We are now wondering what happened to the representative, (that
was so busy) we were holding for?
Once
we make the decision regarding what language we want to use,
we expect the representative to come on
the line
but no — not
yet we must listen to another recording.
“ If
you wish to pay a bill, press 1 if you wish to question a
bill, press 2 if you wish to speak to someone named
Bill, press 3, if you enjoy Latin music press 4 if you prefer
Irish tunes, press 5, for classical music, press 6 and for marches
press 7. If you are calling for any reason other
than your bill, hang up and call again.
Of
course we all know if we do that, the whole process will
start all over and never will a representative
come on the
line. He left at noon for the day but if you
wish to leave him a message, simply press 000000 over and
over
until
you actually do reach someone or they hang up
on you. If they
do hang up — which usually happens, you can start all over
but if you are asked to hold — go for it,
there may still be a representative (just hired)
in the
building.
If you ever do get someone on the phone and they understand
or speak English, now you have to attempt to remember why you
were calling. I highly recommend you write it down before you
call or you may have to start all over again.
The
type of experience I described happens, not only with your
phone company but department
stores,
banks,
credit
card companies.
Some (not mine) insurance companies use these
phone delay systems as do pharmacies, hospitals,
movie
houses, some
restaurants, car dealers — the list
is endless.
Just about any company you call that may be important will
likely have an answering delay device; these machines are designed
to tell customers how little importance they are to the company
being called.
To
let the answering machine take a message just wait for the
beep then leave a message
such as; “The
number I dialed was on a winning ticket
to the one million dollar
drawing held
at beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.”
As I see it, the new phone systems are annoying and aggravating
but who wants to talk to an unhappy employee in a bad mood
anyway.