Automated whut?!

[valis2]

I just called to have my gas service switched over from the apartment to the house, and when I was finished speaking to the live person service rep, she switched me over to an automated attendant who verifies all of the information.

By the end of the call I was howling with laughter and I could barely get the answers out. I had to repeat the answers multiple times because the voice recognition software was getting confused. Husband stared at me during the call, completely bewildered.

After I finished the call I explained it to him. The automated attendant says things like, "Is this your address? 2356 Blahbbity Lane?" and you say yes or no. After you say yes or no, they play a two second recording of someone typing on a computer. I am not making this up. It's an automated attendant! It doesn't need to do anything with a computer! It is a computer! It doesn't even have fingers!

I was wiping away tears, I swear.

Comments

[florahart]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG I would also not be able to survive this unbegigglified.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Isn't that incredible?!! Are there people out there who think this is a real person?!!!

Seriously, it said, "Hmm. I'm having trouble with the name of your street, so I'm going to spell it out." That made me crack up, too. I don't live on Poughsietanxienyorble Street. It's a rather common sort of street name that any English-speaking person would have no trouble getting on the first try. I laughed like an idiot.

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

OMG That's funny!! :D But it still had that creepy robot voice??

LOL!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

And yet it's so AWESOMELY smart that they do it because otherwise there would be people thinking, "Are you writing this down or are you just sitting there?" Like the way they have digital cameras with the recording of a shutter click because otherwise people would just keep taking pictures and thinking it didn't work!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It was a highly developed creepy robot voice. When it read the street numbers, for example, it would do "eight six NINE seven four THREE," kind of like a real person would. lol!!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly!! And then you have crazy people like me who are completely laughing like idiots.

I had to turn of the shutter click on my camera because it was so distracting, lol!

[jaelle-n-gilla.livejournal.com]

*rotfl* Typing? So funny!

That reminds me a of a comedian in Germany who recorded a telephone call with the first automated train information system.

So the computer asks him: "Please state the city you want to go to."
And the comedian is his best Hessian dialect says: "Weeerll, I thought I'd a go ta Frankfooort t'day."
So the computer goes: "You want to go to Wellitha" - or something like that.

At the end the comedian is shouting swear words and the computer gets more confused by the second. It's hilarious.

[rinsbane.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! That's brilliant.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

hahaha! That's hilarious! I was really upsetting the poor thing with my giggles, so I can relate. It kept not understanding even simple things like "yes" because I was laughing so hard.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It was so funny I was wiping tears away. Husband wasn't quite as amused, but still...some things just really catch me as funny. ;)

[florence-craye.livejournal.com]

I would have reacted the same way! *giggle*

"COMPUTER, ARE YOU WRITING THIS DOWN? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!" I wonder if they had that typing noise on early ships in Star Trek. XD

[valis2.livejournal.com]

*snort* Yes, exactly!! omg. *laughs like an idjit* It was so theatrical, too. The voice they used was very expressive and tried very hard to match human speech patterns. Honestly, I'll bet there are people who really think it's a person!

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

YES. I've had the exact same thing happen! That and the robot saying things like "OK, hold on. Oh, uh, I also need [whatever]." Like how stupid do they think we are? How many people are actually fooled by that into thinking they're talking to a person?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY!! I mean, seriously! Who is fooled by the keyboard sounds? hahahah!!!!

That just killed me.

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

That is so totally pathetic!

[sinick.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's every bit as wack as all the movies where they have the text on a computer monitor updating character. by. character. as. if. it's. a. fucking. TYPEWRITER.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It was so hilarious that I was crying with laughter. I mean, it probably helps with some people who are comforted by the sound of the keyboard. But it's so funny!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Or where it makes a beeping noise as you press each key--or as each character appears onscreen. *laughs and laughs*

[cordeliadelayne]

OMG. That's the funniest thing I've heard all week!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It really was bizarre and hilarious all at the same time! lol!