posted
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
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. Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
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.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
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?
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
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.
posted
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.
Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
No, you'll get a worse result, because you are automatically leaving out people like me, who feel insulted. So your sample is biased.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
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. Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Indeed, but a robot is even more rude - it can invade hundreds of homes without so much as a water break!
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
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.
Posts: 143 | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
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.
posted
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! Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
