Who can say they do not occasionally get frustrated with a telephone answering service? How much time do you waste listening to option picks? “Press 1 for existing customers…” etc. Of course there should be options for sorting this out, depending on the circumstances. But today I learned it can also be a completely stupid exercise in government waste. This morning I discovered the most blatant abuse of this time-wasting nonsense you could possibly imagine at the Colorado DMV.
Call their number and you are presented with the usual menu of choices. I needed to replace my Drivers License and option #2 seemed appropriate, to which I was greeted by 9 more choices, none of which seemed quite right, so I picked “0” as instructed, for an operator. Afterwards, I got to thinking that stuff all sounds pretty similar. Wonder what happens if I select different choices? Oddly enough, at least in this particular case, it doesn’t matter! Option 1 took me to Samantha, the same lady I spoke to a few minutes earlier, to which I quickly said, “Oh I forgot to ask about the appointment thing…” Guess who answers option #2? “Sorry, wrong number.” and #3 and so on. She immediately hung up on my 4th call. It was early Monday morning, so I got through quickly each time. Apparently most people with government documentation issues don’t jump right on that 1st thing Monday morning.
I wonder how much the state taxpayers paid to get that system installed and programmed? Regardless, if you don’t have a proper application for it, then WHY? A quick hold message followed by muezack would be so much less unpleasant. Even at that point, they loop the muezack at annoyingly frequent intervals to interrupt with more nonsense. Why did option #2 on the 1st menu not take me straight to Samantha? Because logic and dare I say common sense, seem to be sorely lacking in alot of things I notice these days.