I think there’s a coordinated campaign to prevent people from talking to each other if I have to handle a week of service calls to my internet company and go to more stores than usual.
I’m not totally kidding. Have you noticed that stopping talking to others has become a new and different era, especially since the “pandemic”? Currently, it is instructed to “interface” with the machine. It occurs at telephones, gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants.
There’s something off While one employee stands in front of a cigarette case, he walks to the register and monitors you while you do his job.
When I was told to “scan the menu” in a restaurant, did you give me a paper with a QR code? Have you been told to scan your own groceries, put them in a bag and punch your payments into the register (“not asked”)?
What about women in the robot phone tree who prevent you from talking to people in gasoline companies, banks, or other businesses you call?
Make a call
Since at least going back to the 1980s, people have been complaining about declining customer service. The worst was the phone tree, which was invented to its advantage at the time.
The phone tree is always irritating, but now it’s out of control: there It’s not a department of human staff that you can direct. Worse, companies intentionally limit subjects who can “study” away from menu options. And when you try to get a human agent, the system is hanging up.
With the adoption of new, shiny, sparkly AI technology overnight, it’s infinitely worse. Last month I finally stopped working with an old internet company (a huge multinational company you’ve heard of but not a nostalgic word). This is because they blatantly refused to program AI “customer service representatives” to connect customers with humans.
Call Wait (and Waiting)
Here’s how to proceed with these online chats:
AI Agent: Choose from billing, technical support, or new sales.
Me: I need more options. You need an agent.
AI: Choose from billing, technical support, or new sales.
Me: Agent.
AI: Sorry, please choose from…
Me: Agent! You need an agent! My questions are not listed!
AI: Sorry, I will not be able to connect to the agent until I follow the suggested steps above. Goodbye.
The chat window will then close or the call will be disconnected.
Yes, I’m serious. If you didn’t follow their orders, the robot now bravely hung up the phone. How did customers have to get orders from company devices rather than other ways?
An inconvenient store
That’s not good for me personally and sorry to say that human behavior is just as bad as robotics’ misconduct. This week I needed a five-gallon jug of kerosene. Warm and illuminate your home with antique kerosene lamps restored in the cold season. These are not the small “small houses on the grassland” oil lamps you’re thinking of. They are big thirsty bad boys, extinguishing the great light and heat.
So I went to the farm where they sell kerosene by a huge margin of 40% less than the other stores. When I walk to the shelf there is nothing there. Fuck. Now I need to weigh up and think about talking to staff.
Fifteen years ago, this was not a difficult decision. In fact, it was not a decision at all. But today? The most common responses you get from a store clerk when seeking help are expressions of stimulation and an attitude that conveys an attitude aimed at describing “You, the customer, is inconvenient.”
Millennials and generals are most prominent in people under the age of 40, as they were not taught things like “doing your job” or “not bad for people who pay your wages through their customers.”
I make it a chance and ask like a 22-year-old crazy on the register. Of course, he doesn’t make eye contact with me. “Hello. You can tell that kerosene is not in its normal location. Please tell me if it is in stock and when it is in stock.”
Without looking at me, he replies, “I don’t know.” What should I say to this? Why not say something differently, “I’m not going to answer your question, and I want you to leave?”
So I say, “Yes. Please tell me who might know, or how can I know if I can buy kerosene here and when it is.”
Annoyed, the cashier replied, “They don’t tell us what’s coming to the truck. They’re coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Check it out then.”
When I was working in retail, my boss would have observed me talking to such a patron, and I would have been fired on the spot.
There’s no talk
My last stop on this outing is grabbing lunch. There is a brand new gas station/convenience store/truck stop just opened two miles above the road from where I live in Vermont. It’s like the northern version of the famous Bucc-EE truck stop “Mall” where you can see south. Hot and cold foods, soft drinks, beer, liquor, small electronic accessories, motor oils, toys, can keep your child quiet.
Sadly, “Let customers do their store work” has also been transferred to the Corner Store.
All of this place is self-check-out. There’s something off One employee will stand in front of a cigarette case for walking to the register and watch you while you do his job. There is no etiquette for that. Employees don’t say hello to you. If they let you know that you are aware of your existence, you wonder if they will ask them to do something.
I’m prepared for that. I’m not prepared to have to do the same for a sandwich.
I stand at the deli counter for about two minutes, but two employees stand behind the counter 20 feet apart, chatting with each other as if they weren’t there. Then it dawns on me. I have a bank of iPads that burn saturated colors. As a customer, I am forced to punch a touchscreen on the machine and order. There may be something I don’t talk to other people.
Starting with the fact that the device is forced to learn a new “button” and a new set of software, the device adds all the annoying and frustration and time that should be a simple request.
Of course, employees don’t talk to you even if they know you’re having problems. Finally (I think) after placing my order, the dramatic pipe organ music begins to ring from the hidden speakers. It plays plagiarism. This is the role at the end of the church hymn that becomes “aaaaa-men.” Apparently, this indicates that the order will be sent to St. Peter and will be delivered soon.
Among the two counter staff, the younger one looks at me temporarily while the fanfare echoes through the tiled walls. “Are I allowed to talk to you?”
She’s just staring at me.
