"If You'd Like to Report a Problem, Press 2. . ."

Anyone else MAD as hell with convoluted company voicemail systems?
Anyone else have a friend or relative out of work?
Anyone else 'taken it on the chin' too many times from being disconnected after 20 minutes of wading through endless questions and telephone button pushing?

Why are we such patsies of corporate greed? 'Cause that's what it's about, you know -- how they can save a buck and we just can just curse them with a loud 'shecky durn' to that quiet, endless pause, or worse, some mind-numbing musaq designed to torture.

What most corporate voicemail is NOT about is good customer service. Man, after another maddening round of two such cases this morning [not that I'm normally logging them!], I want to start a people's power movement designed to identify the worst of the perpetrators, Flogging them with well-crafted Blogs, and demanding some R - E - S- P - E - C - T and fundamental change in their behavior.

First, somebody's gotten way-rich on selling these pricey voicemail systems that are not user friendly to any age group. This could really get in the way of commerce, personal safety, and plain old blood pressure-driven peace-of-mind.

Second, the companies over-utilizing these aggressive and relentless voicemail systems are getting rich off our misery. We don't like it, doesn't solve our problems or requests for help or a purchase either lots of times. After all, when you've had enough, you've HAD it!

Third, I know a number of people who would love to have those jobs -- NO, they NEED those jobs that pricey corporate voicemail systems replaced them with. You know, they're our neighbors, parents, wannabe taxpayers, and they/we deserve a chance to be the driving Capital behind American business once again.

Fourth, who's making the decisions to go this route? Is it at the board room level or is some bean counter in the Accounting department figuring it maximizes his/her own company benefits to force-feed corporate voicemail down our throats?

Fifth, when was the last time a real person answered a corporate call and delightfully said, "Hello, my name is Dan; how can I/we help you today?" Hey, I think the good, respectful companies for customers' desire for human contact should also be Blogged with praise. It's just that sadly, they're fewer these days or so it seems to me.

Trust me, I FEEL YOUR PAIN; all you have to do is share the stories of the Good, the Bad, and the downright Ugly.

But I'm also thinking we've got some power ourselves.:
-->We can hang up and sometimes appear in a business lobby (that won't work most of the time).
-->We can email the Public Affairs Liaison for the company in question itemizing our complaints.
--> We can (when possible) change who we're doing business with and let the old company know why.
-->And we also could start a Movement, a Liberation Movement of sorts to remove this tyrrany from our backs as consumers in a giant worldwide marketplace.

Do we have it in us? Up for the task? No guts, no glory, so. . .

Who's with me out there? We all have different skills and come from different walks of life, so Is There an MBA in-the-house out there who could calculate for a given company how many Jobs could be restored right here in the old USA by eradicating the Goliathan beasts of corporate voicemail?

So the message is, you want to run your business, collect my dollars, benefit from some tax breaks and take away HOW MANY jobs from my neighborhood? See, my neighborhood is pretty darn big -- it goes from Maine to Hawaii, Alaska to Brownsville, TX and a criss-cross of the in-between. We've gotta Think Globally and act Locally. Remember that old 60's or 70's phrase.? Made great signs then and would now too.

Are you with me? If so, "Please type in your mother's maiden name and press 7."

~~Riled & Ready Lucy