On any given day, we can usually hear some yelling. Sometimes there are good excuses for yelling and other times yelling shows a lack if personal control. If someone is going to accidentally encounter risk someone may yell to get the person's attention and evade the danger. Other times we can see someone yelling uncontrollably about an issue that is not of much importance.
I was a teacher. Some teachers used a very loud voice to control the situation. Some teachers just yelled. The yellers showed that they had lost control of themselves.
Now the other day I saw someone yelling. I probably would have yelled too.
There are computer generated voice responses on phones. I've ranted enough about call centers. The computer generated voices respond to a limited number of responses. If you don't happen to use responses the computer understands the computer usually puts you through to a real person.
Yesterday I found one of these critters that did not pass you on to a real person. It just kept going around and around. If you didn't give the correct response it kept going over the same routine. We wanted something different and that's where the problem was.
Now for the yelling!
The Micro manager does not understand technology very well and has little patience with it. So she thinks the more you say that the machine will better understand what you want. Well the poor machine was more confused. Then she thought (well . I don't know if she thought) that if she talked louder the machine would understand what she wanted. Well, that didn't help either so then she was really ticked and yelling.
It was funny watching this, but I would have been upset as well as you were not given an option. You went around in circles and there was not option to get out.
So yes, there was some yelling yesterday.
That's a cute round robin story. Sometimes I just push "O" several times and I might get to a person. Once I was told just to say "representative" over and over. Once, I kept repeating "I want a human" several times. The robot voice must have been trained well, and a human answered! Linda in KANSAS, where yelling isn't heard well out on the prairies.
ReplyDeleteThese technologies will get better, but I still hate call centers.
DeleteTechnology is wonderful but at times it can be pretty darned frustrating.
ReplyDeleteWe have to learn to live with technology and manage it not it manage us.
DeleteI'm sorry the Micro Manager had to put up with that and I don't blame her for yelling. It is so difficult to get a human on the phone anymore and very frustrating!
ReplyDeleteIt's a long time since we got a human on the phone every time. That was service.
Delete"Press 9 if you've completely lost it with all this dumb technology!"
ReplyDeletewe're going to have to master things. the technology will improve.
DeleteCute story. Sometimes it just feels good to let it out. Take care, have a happy day!
ReplyDeleteDoes swearing count for letting it out?
DeleteI’m with the Micro Manager. Frustration beyond belief these days with technology in general and especially the computer generated voice responses! Grrrr…
ReplyDeleteIt takes a certain kind of reading to understand what's going on. Too many times I miss seeing the key direction.
DeleteThat's frustrating and I can understand why she felt like yelling. Can you reach the company via email? Or just say one of the other choices to get to a person and explain your problem?
ReplyDeleteFor many things it takes more than an email.
DeleteOh, I HATE getting caught in a loop with some automated phone system. It's the most frustrating thing! I'd have been yelling too!
ReplyDeleteYes, this one went around about as fast as you could talk.
DeleteIt is kind of funny when it happens to someone else, but I know that it is sooo frustrating. It’s more like TG it’s not happening to me.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is funny watching some one else get frustrated.
DeleteI find it frustrating when I get into a situation where a voice gives me various options to press and none of them fit my requirements - I don't yell - I just switch off and abandon all thought of getting the help I need.
ReplyDeleteEven when you do get to an operator it's some times difficult to get a solution to your problem.
DeleteAggravating, that's technology for you.
ReplyDeleteWe have to lean how to control technology...not the other way around.
DeleteLong ago I learned that yelling (at least in anger) never did me any good. It was nice to get rid of that burden.
ReplyDeleteIt's frustrating and sometimes our first option is to yell.
DeleteI think yelling is the appropriate response to those robot answering machines. It takes forever to get a human to come to the phone.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about it the computer generated voice is not influenced by your yelling.
DeleteI’m about ready to resort to yelling myself! There are a couple real estate companies that call more than once every day wanting to know if I want to sell my house. This has been going on for weeks. Oh, and once in a while I have to yell at The One I Love because he hasn’t put his hearing aids in and can’t hear me otherwise. I sympathize with the micromanager. Sometimes you just have to raise your voice!
ReplyDeleteThere's one with a hearing aid here who gets yelled at! Hearing aids are better than nothing but they don't solve all problems.
DeleteOh, I've been known to yell at a computer at times, so I feel her frustration.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you going to do some day when the computer yells back?
DeleteI hate those automated call systems.
ReplyDeleteFunny how they put this stuff in. We don't want it but it's there anyway.
DeleteI too hate those automated responses that go nowhere.
ReplyDeleteYou feel very helpless.
Deleteyelling at a machine rarely works but we have done that too:(
ReplyDeletethe yelling helps you but that's all.
Deletei don't think I have ever found an automated message system impossible to navigate. I have sometimes tried several options.
ReplyDeleteWhen my twins left high school and went to uni, they applied for government financial support. The agency looking after it was overwhelmed by the huge number of school leavers (it happens every year) and processing was extremely slow. We weren't in a position to wait for back pay so I spent many hours a day waiting on the phone to try to hurry it along. In the end, I posted on their social media and received a very fast response!
I don't like those systems either. Often if you don't know exactly which choice applies to your call, there is no option to back up and choose something else; you have to hang up and call again and start over. It was really discouraging during the first year of the pandemic especially, because all the systems had a long Covid message at the very beginning and there was no option to skip it! I always feel especially uncomfortable if the system asks me to speak my option instead of pressing a number. I feel stupid talking to a non-human!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a teacher I sometimes yelled to impose my authority. I have a very loud voice and I taught some very rude and reluctant students in my time. What other "weapons" did I nave in my armoury? Not many. Teaching in Thailand was so different. There was no need to yell - ever.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of empathy for the Micro Manager. Usually, it’s sort of the last resort when I dial up the Customer Support number. And I don’t ever recall getting full satisfaction from one of the automated responses. I do recall yelling a time or two. All of these comments and your replies made me smile. Hope you and the Micro Manager have a good week ahead.
ReplyDeleteOur military hospital is the WORST for having you talk to canned messages and redirecting you to another canned message until you're ready to scream too.
ReplyDeleteDuring my first year of teaching in Illinois I did raise my voice and a social worker gave me the best advice... that talking louder doesn't get the kids to listen better. I learned quickly and just stood at the front of the class and stared at my students with one eyebrow up. They stopped immediately to listen. One of the parents actually asked me to show them the look because their child told them I never had to yell at them. It was pretty funny.
i so enjoyed it dear Red ,some days back i had to call for the issuing o my new credit card and it was so much pressing this and that if you want this and that ,i get confused soon with such stuff because such things are new to me though it did not go to yelling because i had hubby beside who is nice in supervising me in such doings :)
ReplyDelete