On both ends of the call centre line

Throughout the course of my working day, I take calls from Queensland, Victoria, NSW and South Australia. Usually we can see where the caller is calling from but sometimes if a customer has been transferred we can't see that information so we have to ask;

"What state are you calling from?"
And if I were the customer who'd just been transferred from department to department I think I'd answer
"A disheveled state"





Don't you just hate those call centres that make you virtually jump through hoops to get to finally speak to an operator? Doesn't it drive you insane? And yet all the call centres use the same methods! As if pushing this button to get this section or that button to get that section isn't bad enough, some of them have started employing the voice activated commands.

"Simply state the reason for your call" the very optomistic recorded voice says.
No matter how simply I say the words, it's never interpreted right by the system.

One time I was having a bit of an argument with this recorded voice and Deno happened to come down as I was screaming "Operator; Operator; Operator" into the phone.

It wasn't a pretty sight and no, I didn't get to speak to the operator, the recorded voice said "I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that. Please repeat the reason for your call in a few words"

And I hung up. Defeated.