I called someone in the US and he wasn’t at his desk; the system helpfully informed me that the guy was not available but that I could
…please leave a message – or, during business hours, press zero for assistance.
It was during business hours.
I pressed zero.
The system cheerfully told me:
Please hold! Someone will be with you shortly!
It was, technically, right. Quite shortly afterward, a nice woman picked up and I told her who I needed to talk to. She said:
All I can do is transfer you to his line, sir.
Which is exactly where I came from.
Whoever designed this flow spared no effort to integrate humans and machines into a single loop of helpless helpfulness. Or is it helpful helplessness?…
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