You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

I'll tell you what! Talking to phone robots. Nobody likes talking to those things, and they're ridiculously imprecise. Just let me push the numbers! And what about a scenario where maybe I don't want everyone within earshot to know my social security number? But that's not even why I started this entry. No, the real problem is customer service phone routing systems that send you to a specific group of representatives based on your calling telephone number. Today I called Verizon because I heard from a friend that they're giving away free FiOS internet speed upgrades. Not only do they have an annoying phone robot that requires you to answer 5 questions deep before sending you to a person (mashing 0 gets you nowhere with this one…), but then that person can only deal with a certain set of accounts. Now I'm all for security and protecting privacy and all of that jazz. But when I spend half an hour on the phone with a CSR only to find out that she can't make any changes to my account because she can't do anything to PA accounts… I'm not a happy customer! How many YEARS have we had the option to take our phone numbers with us when we change providers or move? And we haven't run into this problem before? I'm calling BS. You're already driving me freaking batty with the phone robot, the least you can do is make it USEFUL and ask me which state I'm in. That. That's what grinds my freaking gears. Now, I'm still on hold, 45 minutes later, trying to get through to someone who can change a PA account. The first woman, who couldn't help me, hung up on me when she tried to transfer me. Nothing is really free, is it?

Wait… what?!

When we bought our new TV last year from Tweeter, they offered us a 0% interest for 1 year line of credit to put it on, so we took advantage of the situation to get a free loan and build up our credit. We paid it off in June and today I called the number on the statement to close the account. "Thanks for calling GE Money! We are currently experiencing high call volume and there could be a long wait to speak with a customer service representative." Oh, great. Just how I wanted to spend my morning… on hold! "Please enter your account number…" Beep boop boop bap bop dink doink deet deet doot beep. "Your account balance is currently $0. Your last payment of $140 was received on June something or other. For account information press 1. A bunch more annoying phone robot speak you won't remember. For all other inquiries, press 6." Joy. Me and everyone else who presses 6 get to sit here on hold for hours together. Sixers unite. Beep. "If you would like to close your credit account, please press on-" Boop! Wee, now I'm in line with all of the people who pressed 6, 1. There's probably one guy in a cubicle somewhere who tries to convince everyone not to close their accounts. Poor guy. "You have chosen to close your account. If this is correct, press one." Yeah, I'm pretty sure I hit the right button. Damn sure, in fact. Boop. "Your account has been closed as of today. Your confirmation number is [private, thank you very much!]. Press other numbers if you wanted to do other stuff, or press 9 to end this call." … what? … huh? Excuse me? Well erm, uhh… thanks.

A head shot, a head shot!

I have no idea when I last needed one, but finally — yes, finally — I have a head shot that I don't hate.

It's about time! So what does it take to not be hated? Head over to flickr to see my comments. (Hover your mouse over the picture to see hotspots I've added, and hover over a hotspot to see the comment for it. — This alone is the reason I switched to flickr.)