bbtmn: Seeing Orange

Seeing Orange

So I just had to top up my phone. I won't name the network, but lets call them Yellow. Usually when I top up, I just use their website and do it all online. Takes a couple of minutes, and saves me getting up off my lazy arse. Anyway, apparently the site is closed at the moment for maintenance(!), so I called up to do it that way.

Anyone who uses Ora-, I mean Yellow, PAYG knows that they've just redone all their phone menus with a different, friendlier-sounding person. And that's fine, but I think they've tried to re-do it all to make it sound like you're actually dealing with a real person. Some of the things she "says" are exactly the same things that ill-educated dolts say to try to sound polite. Like, after I enter my details, and how much to top up, "I'll just put that through for you...". Okay, fair enough, but do you have to then, 3 seconds later, say "I'm just putting that through for you", just to fill the silence? As if I'm sat with the phone to my ear, thinking "damn, what am I actually doing here?" and need reminding that something is happening? NONONO!

Finally, when it's all done, does it have to say "By the way, did you know you can also use our website to top your phone up?"...

AAARRRGGGHHH!

Actually, one of the less painful phone menu things that I've used. Some of the ones I've used at work are just.. urgh.

Anyway, I need to finish drawing a flow net. Joy!

• posted by dickie @ 11/18/2007 10:00:00 PM.

5 Comments...

aiusepsi: I hate when they try and make computer-generated things seem personal. Until a computer can pass the Turing Test, it should be forbidden from using a first person tense.

It's a similar argument that makes me glad that with Vista, Microsoft have dropped all the irritating "My" prefixes, so "My Computer" and "My Documents" now become "Computer" and "Documents" respectively. It makes so much more sense.
posted @ Mon Nov 19, 12:38:00 AM GMT

Lucy: Less a comment on the entry (sorry!) than on Andy's comment...

Read this :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine

Read the last paragraph of the section headed 'Universal Turing Machines'. !!!!!
posted @ Thu Nov 22, 12:55:00 AM GMT

dickie: Is it just me who thinks its kinda cool that someone we know has a wikipedia entry? I don't (think) I know anyone else who has one.
posted @ Thu Nov 22, 02:02:00 AM GMT

Lucy: Apart from a couple of lecturers, no. And I know of one or two others by proxy (e.g. Dad of a friend). But how many other 20-yr-olds do I know with their own Wikipedia entry? None!

I think possibly the only thing 'cooler' would be making xkcd!
posted @ Thu Nov 22, 03:20:00 PM GMT

Lucy: And yes, I did put 'cooler' in inverted commas intentionally...!
posted @ Thu Nov 22, 03:29:00 PM GMT