EDITORIAL: Rocky Balboa from the old folks home

Absurdity and frustration of trying to connect with large corporations or federal government ministries

Have you ever tried connecting with a large corporation or a government office? It’s an exercise in frustration and futility and becoming worse as the use of Artificial Intelligence grows.

I attempted to reach the following with no success:

  1. CBC Canada
  2. Canadian government offices:
  • House of Commons
  • Canadian Human Rights Commission
  • Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Youth
  • Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities
  • Minster Marci Ien’s Office
  • Minster Kamal Khera’s Office
  • Office of Jennifer O’Connell, my MP

Forget about it. Not a single one had a live person answering the phone. One had to leave a message for a callback and in Minister Ien’s case, the voicemail box would not take any message as it was full.

Avoid having any problems, at all costs
Incredible! I have been living in Canada for more than 75 years and I cannot connect with my federal government or with any ministry therein. This may be a wonderful country to live in in terms of peace and non-warfare but don’t have problems requiring assistance from the government. If you need to connect with the government, fuggedaboutit!!!

Our national broadcast corporation
CBC might as well be a government ministry as contacting a live person is totally impossible. Phone them and get entangled in a “bot web” of telephone tag with computer bots rather than live people. 

Bots vs US
We are becoming a society where corporations and government bodies hide behind computer walls claiming they are very reachable, almost 24/7. Balderdash! Try contacting a live person there. Impossible!

Ain’t quittin’ just like Rocky Balboa
Like Rocky Balboa of the Rocky series of movies, “I ain’t quittin’.” I’ll go right to the top…and hit another wall but I will make sure someone there gets the message.

I’m retired…they don’t know who they’re dealing with…I will nag, bug, pester, and call until I drop dead. Given my current health status…they are going to hear from me for a long time….but they can choose to ignore me which I am expecting. After all, it ain’t election time, so ignore the voter for a few more years.

Fine, ignore me but I can still walk. So I can still canvass for the other guy and I will. Sure all politicians and corporate big whigs may be the same but at least with politicians, they can lose their spot at the pork barrel with an election defeat. And the honey moon period after the election may see some reversal of office efficiency…for a few weeks at least.

 

 

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