You may, like me, find yourself in a state of confusion and frustration while attempting to negotiate in this current world of technology and automation. Just today, I resorted to an unorthodox method for how to avoid communication with a machine. First, I hate talking to a robot, if for nothing more than the principal of it. How can it tell me which department to contact when I don’t understand half the language of its message? When I hesitate or stumble with my answer, it just continues to repeat my 4 or 5 options for contact, none of which relate to my questions.
As I struggle trying to find the answers, I keep mumbling the same mantra: “I just want to talk to a human; Let me talk to a real person.” I even attempt a few wrong choices, which leads to more selections, equally as wrong. At the height of my frustration, I slam the phone down to start looking through my paperwork for a direct number, to no avail.
But look, here’s an interesting suggestion. Down the page a bit it says: “See page 2 for other ways to contact us.” I skip the section regarding online contact, which leads to more chats with machines, and look at a different area. They give a number for those customers with disabilities. Now, I’m not blind or deaf (yet) but I feel a great handicap with my lack of technical knowledge or understanding, so why not try this out? After a minimum of selections, I’m put on with an honest-to-goodness human female. I explain to her my dilemma, and after a good chuckle, she agrees that I do have certain disabilities, as far as understanding the ways of electronics goes. She guides me through the morass of technicalities for my needed service. This saint even arranges for a technician to come to my home to work out the problem with my ailing device. To top it all off, she grants me a gift more precious than gold: a direct phone number for future contact, in case I need it, and of course, I will.
I feel triumphant in my victory overcoming the maze of mechanized communication. Yes, there is more than one way to maneuver my baby boomer self through the dangerous technical whirlpools and undertow to survival. If one is persistent and willing to play a trick or two, it might just bring positive results. Don’t give up, the Senior Revolt is just beginning. We have numbers on our side and aren’t we their biggest customer source?
Sharing the Fruit of Maturity,
Dianna
