So I get a phone call. Happy, excited, I gambol to my kitchen. Is it my girlfriend calling? My family in Norway? Perhaps my boss? I'm kinda bored at the moment, I'd love to talk to someone.
[robot voice]Hello, this is Channel Nine calling. We have a poll (...) Press 1 on your touch-tone phone to start the poll.[/robot voice due to hanging up.]
I do not believe this! They have the infernal gall to call me up in the middle of my vacation, and not even have a human on the other end? It took me a full, gape-mouthed minute before I could make myself believe anyone would be so rude, and hang up. That's a minute of my life I'll never have back. Telemarketers at least have a living human, and you can have fun by asking them the colour of their underwear! A bloody robot? There's not even any satisfaction in hanging up on them.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
And then again, reading your post is a minute of my life I'll never have back.
But then, I would never have it back even if I were working instead if hatracking. So I'm cool with it.
[ July 15, 2004, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by AmkaProblemka (Member # 6495) on :
Didn't you know that robots have feelings? Poor things, being so discriminated against. Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
If it takes you a minute to read that amount of text, you need the practice. Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Actually, I am a dreadfully slow reader.
I just timed myself, and it took me 35 seconds to read your first post.
Of course, I'm sure you timed yourself so you know that it took a full minute for you to hang up the phone.
[ July 15, 2004, 06:00 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Of course! I am a scientist, after all. Surely you do not accuse me of using sloppy language? I grant you I was rounding to the nearest minute, and did not give a margin of error, but still. Posted by miles_per_hour (Member # 6451) on :
If you round how long it took me to read your post to the nearest minute, then it took me one minute to read it.
mr_porteiro_head (on landmark stake-out)
Posted by AmkaProblemka (Member # 6495) on :
coward - > mph
Unless it means you are devoting time and care to writing your landmark post.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
I was going to do something at 7,000 but all of a sudden I noticed that I had 7,005 posts and that idea was kind of squashed...
Hobbes Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Maybe it really was a poll. Maybe they wanted you to rate on a scale of 1-7 how much you don't approve of George Bush or something.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
I believe it was a poll! What I don't believe is their utter lack of elementary politeness. Why should I help them, when they don't even care enough about the results of their poll to pay a human to question me?
Posted by miles_per_hour (Member # 6451) on :
Amka -- I've been working on my landmark on and off for over 700 posts. It's mostly done, but I want to make sure I don't miss the 2000 mark.
Oh, and Amka -- Posted by Anti-Christ (Member # 5714) on :
Do androids dream of electric sheep?
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Only the perverted ones. Normal androids surf the 'net for pr0n like the rest of us.
Posted by Tristan (Member # 1670) on :
Well, at least with an automatic poll you don't have to feel rude when hanging up on them. With a live telemarketer I usually feel obliged to at least wait until they come to a natural pause in their pitch before explaining I'm not interested. No such niceties would be necessary with a machine.
Edit: Too much skimming. I just noticed that hanging up on telemarketers was part of their appeal for you. Guess we're different in this respect.
[ July 15, 2004, 06:58 PM: Message edited by: Tristan ]
Posted by miles_per_hour (Member # 6451) on :
I'm never rude to telemarketers, but I never feel bad for hanging up on them.
Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
Actually, I think a robot voice poll is the most scientific way to do things. That way inflection doesn't change when you ask questions, the questions are always asked the same way without accent, without changing of word order, and without misspeaking. You'll get a more consistent result that way.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
No, you'll get a worse result, because you are automatically leaving out people like me, who feel insulted. So your sample is biased.
Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
Btw, is it rude for you to encounter a self-checkout machine at the grocery store instead of a cashier? Or for an ATM to give you money instead of a bank teller? Maybe I'm being too extreme in my examples, but I don't get your extreme adverse reaction to a robotic pollster. Then again, I'm in the Asimov camp on the "I, Robot" thread, as opposed to the Hollywood camp. Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
No, the difference being,
a) Those robots provide an actual service. b) They do not invade my apartment.
Posted by miles_per_hour (Member # 6451) on :
A human being on the other end of the line would have those same problems. Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Indeed, but a robot is even more rude - it can invade hundreds of homes without so much as a water break!
Posted by miles_per_hour (Member # 6451) on :
Also, if you ever read an article or watch a news show which talks about the results of polls, then those polls do offer a service to you.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
What I hate most are those robots that call and don't release the line when you hang up. I called the 800 number back once and tormented the poor guy who answered, then that poor guy's boss. He insisted it wasn't illegal. I quoted the statute to him.
Dagonee
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
quote: Also, if you ever read an article or watch a news show which talks about the results of polls, then those polls do offer a service to you.
Indeed, if I could bear to watch American television, such a poll might be of some use to me.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
quote: If it takes you a minute to read that amount of text, you need the practice
You'll fit in just fine around here.
Are you British by chance, 'cause you sound just like my coworker?
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
I love those polls! I don't understand how people can get so upset about them. They're so much fun. And I've only ever gotten 2!
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