As I write this, I am about through with an almost six-week slog in the morasses of telecom service provider hell. I will not rehearse the details, since they are pedantic, you have undoubtedly your own personal experience with some similar situation, and I just can’t stand reliving the more-or-less sixteen hours I have spent on the process.
I wasn’t trying to do anything fancy either in terms of technology or commercial arrangements. Suffice it to say that I was trying to switch our cell service to Comcast to take advantage of one of their “deals.” They screwed things up so badly that I have bailed on them and switched to another carrier (with another pretty good deal). I have no illusions that any of the four “service providers” involved in my sad tale have or will actually deliver superior service, but Comcast’s performance was so wretched (even if fronted by very cordial service reps) that I will not spend any more money with them.
It's not clear which was worse, the interminable periods on hold, the identity verification processes that took as long as actually providing substantive information, or the general helplessness I felt knowing that I was caught up in the cogs of a seemingly inescapable machine. The people I dealt with were (almost) to a person polite and supportive; even if some lacked competence. I was (almost) unfailingly polite in response. Those on the front lines have little control over the situation; they are foot soldiers of corporate armies.
It became apparent (during one of those interminable waits) that I have become utterly dependent on the regular functioning of telecommunications/internet technology as part of the foundation of my quotidian life. So much so that the (recurring and very tempting) thought of hanging up on my various interlocutors and disconnecting from the entire metanetwork had to be quickly dismissed. If it had been a matter of walking away from some money, I would have hung up. As it was, however, I felt trapped; I was aware at the time that I had to work my way through their procedures to retain my connection with 21C society. My original thoughts of cost savings were quickly discarded in the face of the amount of time I had to spend/waste.
Moreover, I had to come to terms with the fact that the unavoidable price of dealing with these (apparently necessary) companies was wending my way through AI-“enhanced” call routing trees, repetitious disclaimers, breathless sales pitches, and redundant problem-“solving” protocols (rebooting, reloading, and reactivating). The stealthy way in which these companies make it exceedingly difficult to talk to a live, knowledgeable human is yet further evidence of the pinnacle of bureaucracy they occupy. Over a century ago, Max Weber famously described bureaucracy as one of the hallmarks of modern life. Little did he know.
Modern information technology was supposed to make our lives easier and, in many ways, it does. Still, I have to wonder whether the economists’ calculation of the resulting increased productivity includes not only the time spent/wasted navigating the maze or the life-shortening stress/frustration of the processes required.
The telecom/internet world is but one aspect of these phenomena, as we all know. Social Security/Medicare/health insurance is every bit as delightful. Taxes, school admissions/enrollment, compliance activities at work, and the various channels of ordinary commerce are all viable competitors. If Dante recast the seven levels of hell for the modern world, he would have a lot of material to work with. You can make your own list.
I’m not sure there’s much to be done about it. Perhaps the emerging personal AI intelligent agents will cheerfully do the slogging for us. If they can effectively solve problems faster than their corporate counterparts on the “service” side of things can create them, then being assimilated into the Borg might be worth it. Until then, I don’t think I’m ready to disconnect and return to the world of printed books, physically-present sources of music, face-to-face shopping, and snail-mail (now at 82¢ per letter!). So, unless the corporate AIs are reading this and ready to retaliate against my rant, you can still reach me at [email protected] and (415) 440-4535.
I wasn’t trying to do anything fancy either in terms of technology or commercial arrangements. Suffice it to say that I was trying to switch our cell service to Comcast to take advantage of one of their “deals.” They screwed things up so badly that I have bailed on them and switched to another carrier (with another pretty good deal). I have no illusions that any of the four “service providers” involved in my sad tale have or will actually deliver superior service, but Comcast’s performance was so wretched (even if fronted by very cordial service reps) that I will not spend any more money with them.
It's not clear which was worse, the interminable periods on hold, the identity verification processes that took as long as actually providing substantive information, or the general helplessness I felt knowing that I was caught up in the cogs of a seemingly inescapable machine. The people I dealt with were (almost) to a person polite and supportive; even if some lacked competence. I was (almost) unfailingly polite in response. Those on the front lines have little control over the situation; they are foot soldiers of corporate armies.
It became apparent (during one of those interminable waits) that I have become utterly dependent on the regular functioning of telecommunications/internet technology as part of the foundation of my quotidian life. So much so that the (recurring and very tempting) thought of hanging up on my various interlocutors and disconnecting from the entire metanetwork had to be quickly dismissed. If it had been a matter of walking away from some money, I would have hung up. As it was, however, I felt trapped; I was aware at the time that I had to work my way through their procedures to retain my connection with 21C society. My original thoughts of cost savings were quickly discarded in the face of the amount of time I had to spend/waste.
Moreover, I had to come to terms with the fact that the unavoidable price of dealing with these (apparently necessary) companies was wending my way through AI-“enhanced” call routing trees, repetitious disclaimers, breathless sales pitches, and redundant problem-“solving” protocols (rebooting, reloading, and reactivating). The stealthy way in which these companies make it exceedingly difficult to talk to a live, knowledgeable human is yet further evidence of the pinnacle of bureaucracy they occupy. Over a century ago, Max Weber famously described bureaucracy as one of the hallmarks of modern life. Little did he know.
Modern information technology was supposed to make our lives easier and, in many ways, it does. Still, I have to wonder whether the economists’ calculation of the resulting increased productivity includes not only the time spent/wasted navigating the maze or the life-shortening stress/frustration of the processes required.
The telecom/internet world is but one aspect of these phenomena, as we all know. Social Security/Medicare/health insurance is every bit as delightful. Taxes, school admissions/enrollment, compliance activities at work, and the various channels of ordinary commerce are all viable competitors. If Dante recast the seven levels of hell for the modern world, he would have a lot of material to work with. You can make your own list.
I’m not sure there’s much to be done about it. Perhaps the emerging personal AI intelligent agents will cheerfully do the slogging for us. If they can effectively solve problems faster than their corporate counterparts on the “service” side of things can create them, then being assimilated into the Borg might be worth it. Until then, I don’t think I’m ready to disconnect and return to the world of printed books, physically-present sources of music, face-to-face shopping, and snail-mail (now at 82¢ per letter!). So, unless the corporate AIs are reading this and ready to retaliate against my rant, you can still reach me at [email protected] and (415) 440-4535.
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