In Which I Learn How Easy it is to Confuse People

[B&NGoddess]

our auto-attendant is a pain in the ass. its the thing you listen to when you call the store, to disembodied voice tellling you our hours (should you choose to listen to them) and our location. our music manager added to it during the BOGO DVD sale that we had and then she had to change it back afterwards. she tells you the hours, and another woman tells you the location.

someone called and complained to management that he was confused by the fact that the auto attendant was in two different voices. did he call, listen to it, and then have to sit down? was he having vapors or something? did these two women speaking to him remind him of a long forgotten episode in his life that sent him spiralling into the black abyss of puzzlement? were there paramedics involved? does the B&N need to settle out of court for lost wages, mental anguish, or physical deformity?

sigh.

[draftermatt]

He might have thought the 2nd voice was a real person so he started talking back to her

[PepperElf]

have a third woman add another message on.
might as well *really* confuse them.


(i once considered having a voice mail message of, "Hi!......... No, sorry I'm not available!" just to confuse people into thinking I really answered at first...)

[mattm04]

The auto for our corp offices onlu has about 7 different people. Some whisper, some try eat the phone, others scream. It's a blast if you have to call.

[rerant]

He might have thought the 2nd voice was a real person so he started talking back to her

I've had that happen. I was calling a doctor's office and the recording was done by a receptionist (I assume) and she "umm"'d and "ahhh"'d during the recording, making it sound like she had just picked up the phone and was listing off options to me.
I was so weirded out I hung up and never called back.

[Xieg]

(i once considered having a voice mail message of, "Hi!......... No, sorry I'm not available!" just to confuse people into thinking I really answered at first...)

Done that. Pisses my family, friends, and boss off. More so because I answer the phone much the same way my voicemail does. Much fun is had.

As far as automated phone services, to confuse a customer does not required two voices. Atleast once a day I have someone complain to me that the voice system is too confusing, has too many options, etc. These people are always in the wrong queue for whatever their issue is as well.

*Beep* Regular Sales *Beep*
SC: I'd like to make a return. Also, your phone system is very confusing
Me: *headdesk*

[theredbaron47]

At the pharmacy, we've actually had one lady call and complain that "the man answering the phone is very rude".

. . . any guesses?

. . . of course she was referring to the automated voice telling the hours, location, etc.

We passed that one right on up to corporate, dontcha know.

[Becks]

Theredbaron47, what did corporate have to say about it?

[smileyeagle1021]

I love people who are confused by voice recognition systems... when you call into our toll-free central number you are greeted by DESI, our friendly voice recognition computer, she will ask a few very simple questions like are you calling to make a new reservation or for an existing reservation, are you a priority club member, and what city will you be staying in...
without fail I will get at least once an hour when I'm doing overtime in gen res I'll get a call where the DESI pop-up says "has reservation, pclub member, san diego" (not always that combination, but work with me) and the person didn't have a reservation, had no idea what the priority club was, and told desi the city they were calling from rather than the city they would be staying in.

[Pagan]

I love people who are confused by voice recognition systems...

I've never been confused by one, but honestly, I feel like a fool when I get one. The ones for UPS and Qwest, you have to enuciate your words very clear, otherwise.... I'm glad I'm usually calling them from home and there's nobody else here to hear how stupid I sound.

[BookstoreEscapee]

The B&N my ex works at has the voice of a department manager who transfered to another store at least a year and a half ago...

[SportinGoods]

I've had to call those things at work when a check calls for a manual authorization. Not only does it take at least fifteen minutes to tell the automated voice all the information it needs, you have to recite it pretty loudly with the extra noise in the store. It also repeats and asks for confirmation of what you said. Highly annoying when you have a large line.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

My voice mail still has my old sup's voice on it. My current sup said I should change it. When I asked why (it has all the info, I think her voice sounds better than mine), the caller doesn't know or care who made the voice mail, after all. He had to admit that I'm right & her voice remains until/unless I have to make some change.

[theredbaron47]

Becky, I was actually being sarcastic when I said we passed that one right on up to corporate. While thinking the recording is rude is actually a legitimate complaint, I neglected to mention that the lady thought she was talking to another person when she was actually talking to the recording. . . another person who hung up on her, according to her.

So, there are a few reasons we didn't forward it to corporate:

1. The lady was well into her 90's; we've known her to not be "all there".
2. A complaint from someone who interprets the recorded message as an actual person rather invalidates itself.
3. We had just known corporate would have laughed at us ( and probably sent us a joke-fax so we'd be sure ).
4. No one else has ever made the same complaint, ever.

Not necessarily in that order, of course.

I hope that clarified. I'm sorry, I should have remembered to include that nugget of information.

[hotelnpa]

At the movie theater, when people called, a recording came on telling patrons movie information, titles, showtimes, and prices.

People would complain that the recording was either too fast or too slow. Some even said the person doing the recording didn't sound friendly enough.

The manager asked me to do the recording one night because she had lots to do so I agreed to do it. Someone called the next morning and I answered the phone. The person said whoever did the recording was awful and sounded like a robot. Oh well, that was my first and only time doing the recording for the theater.