Yesterday

I got a separate debit card for my company checking account.  It arrived late last week.  I finally got around to activating it yesterday.  Of course, when I called the bank's number, the automated voice on the other end advised me I might need my checking account number.  I hung up...didn't have that handy.  The checks are safely tucked away and I had to unlock the safe to retrieve them.  I called the bank back, the nice lady repeated her yadda, yadda, yadda, and I followed her instructions to the letter.  I fully expected to be on the phone at least five minutes.  Surely she would want my mother's maiden name, my date of birth, where I was born and from what high school  did I graduate.

Surprise, surprise, surprise.  I was instructed to press in the numbers as they appeared on my new card, which I carefully did.  Very, carefully did, as I could not imagine what kind of noise the phone would make should I make a mistake.

The numbers went through.  The nice lady came on the line again..."Your new card has been activated, thank you for calling, Goodbye."   Are you kidding me?  Thank you...goodbye.  No wonder it is so easy to steal somebodies identity.

Not only had I NOT spoken to a real person, I was not even sure the voice at the beginning of the call was the same one that thanked me.  I miss the good, old, days when you actually spoke to someone, I had not said a word, just simply pounded in the required numbers, and hung up after she said goodbye.  Sigh, how sad.

I used to enjoy talking to a representative, at first they were local, and I felt like I knew them and often thought they might even be at my local branch.  Then, years later, I would get a girl with a delightful, Y'all  lass who would thrill me with her soft, sweet, southern accent.  I would ask where she was, and what her weather was like.  And she would say something about never having been to the Pacific northwest, and did we really get all that rain she heard about.

Eventually, men became representative.  I didn't like that as much, men in business, chatty, not so much.  But, it was still a live person, and I felt like he really cared about me and my problem.

Then, came the automated menus, press one for this, two for that...if you want to talk to a representative, press "O".  Okay, I could handle that, and always, always pressed "O".  I know, that was sooo old fashioned.  Still, I got to talk to a human.

Then, one day, I got an automated menu, but there was no press "O" for a representative.  Instead, at the end a recorded voice came on the line and said..."To repeat this menu press pound".  What, no delightful lass with southern drawl, no young man trying to work his way up the corporate ladder?  I was thunder struck.

Having a very short memory, I always have to press pound, because the menu is so quick I don't catch the options.  Then, I begin to hold up my fingers, and when the menu says something close to what I want, I count my fingers, and press that number on the dial.  Generally I get it right, although there have been times I had to go through the menu a third time.

Don't get me wrong, generally I'm very compatible with this electronic age, and I'm certainly glad and appreciate it.

But...sometimes....I'd just like to hear....

Y'all have a good day now, Y'all hear.