Some might remember that line from Network. A fuller quote is, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."
I'm not made as hell, but something in me snapped yesterday when I was on the phone to some company somewhere. First I passed through the voice menu: Enter your ID, enter your birthdate, enter your zip code, is the number you're calling from the one associated with your account, etc., and then finally I was talking to a person.
This very nice person started by asking my name, and as I said, something in me just snapped. I had set aside yesterday for dealing with several issues and this wasn't my first phone call of the day. The conversion went something like this:
Him: | "Who am I speaking with today?"
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Me: | "Isn't that information in front of you?"
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Him: | "Yes sir, but I have to verify."
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Me: | "Isn't that what the voice assistant just did?"
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Him: | "Yes sir, but we have to be sure that were talking to the right person."
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Me: | "Are you concerned that we might switch people before the voice assistant assigns you the call?"
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Him: | "No sir, but I'm required to verify?"
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Me: | "But it's getting old having to provide the same information twice every time I call anywhere?"
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Him: | "I understand that, sir, but I have to verify who I'm talking to."
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Me: | "The information about who you're talking to is right in front of you. That's correct, isn't it? You're looking at it right now. You know exactly who I am."
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Him: | "Yes, sir, but I'm required to hear it from you."
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Me: | "Well I'm retired, and today I have all day. Your voice assistant already heard it from me, you already have the information, and I'm not providing it again. You can hang up on me, but I'm not providing my information again. This is just too much."
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Him: | "Am I speaking to Percy?" |
Breakthrough.
I didn't get any feeling of satisfaction from this, but I did feel as if it was a tiny bit of feedback that if enough people push back in whatever way works for them will eventually have a positive influence on the phone hell we're often put through. When I have the time I'm going to continue to push back. Comments and suggestions welcome.
Oh, I also answer spam calls when I'm bored or need a break and keep them on the line as long as I can. They're good at their jobs, though. The record is only 15 minutes. The last guy just earlier this morning sensed he was being yanked around and said he had pictures of my wife and daughter that he could send out and I asked him to please do, then he hung up on me.
--Percy