A time waster
If you want your information in English press one; if in French press two. If you want to know about arrivals and departures press one. If you want information about what you must do to obtain the information you seek, press two. If you have a touch tone phone press the first four letters of the point of departure of your flight. Then press the number symbol that looks like a figure in tic tac toe. It is on the lower right corner of your dial.
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Calgary. Press the first four letters of the point of arrival. Then press the number symbol. Saskatoon. Would you please wait?
All I sought was the number of a flight from Calgary to Saskatoon.
Twenty years ago I phoned Air Canada and asked a cheerful young man what time the flight from Calgary was arriving.
“Six fourteen,” he said. End of conversation.
Somehow in our love affair with technology we have taken leave of our senses. The computer age has conditioned us to accept what the airlines and other businesses have foisted on us in the name of saving money.
Saving money? Add up the cost of the technology, the alleged music you hear while waiting for a scarce live respondent and the business lost because would-be customers have given up in frustration.
What’s important? The bottom line regardless of the wants and needs of customers?
It’s part of the mind set of corporations that put one person to handle a whole department in a huge store. That person’s responsibilities include ringing up sales and chewing Juicy Fruit gum.
The airline may believe the electronic answering machine saves money but it wastes time for thousands of callers.
