How many
times do you ring a doctor’s surgery, school office, bank or wherever, to hear
a voice at the other end say the words, “Can you just hold for a moment?”
I mean, how
long is a moment anyway? The dictionary definition of a moment is ‘a very brief
period of time’ with brief defined as ‘short duration’. But then what is short?
Is time, like beauty, in the eyes of the beholder? I’ve been kept waiting
anything from a matter of seconds to a good ten minutes, all of which
apparently constitute a ‘moment’.
My time is
precious, so quite honestly I’d much prefer people to admit that they’re really
too busy to deal with my call any time soon, so that I can just cut my losses
and ring back later, as opposed to hanging on the line dwelling on all the
things that I could be doing.
Worse still
are the lines where an automated message tells you that you’re ‘in a queue’
(thank you for calling, your call is important to us, blah-de-blah) without
giving any indication of waiting time. I have called some numbers where you are
actually given an idea of your place number in the queue, which at least allows
you to decide whether to wait or not, so why can’t more companies take this
approach?
The worst
scenario of all is where you’re kept waiting for absolutely ages, only to be
‘accidentally’ cut off at the last minute, so that you have to repeat the whole
process!
Oh, is that
the phone? If you could just hold on for a moment …
Follow
me on Twitter @shoppersjoy
I phoned a hospital to ask after the health of v frail aunt. Met a computer ... which put me through to the wrong ward ... who put me through to the right ward and wrong person ... who went to look for the right person ... who had just gone on a break ... no, she wouldn't take a message ... GGRRRRRRRRR
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