The most frustrating start to the week

What a start to the week. It began well enough and then deteriorated from about 8:30am Monday morning onwards.

First chore of the day – I thought I’d wash a couple of the dog beds in the spare washing machine outside. I only use it for my Border Collies’ beds as they tend get quite dirty and would turn the regular washing machine into a filthy mess. However, my youngest little Collie is only 13 months old and has to investigate and chew everything. So out I go to the washing machine and alas, I’m confronted with one of the machine’s black hose tubes chewed right in the middle thanks to a certain little pup.

I put the machine on, thinking I might still be able to get it to work, and bingo, the hose kept popping off the machine with water pouring everywhere. I am glad the hose could’t hear as what I was saying to it was not very pleasant at all. Whilst this was happening, I wasn’t aware that one of my expensive dog beds was getting drenched at the same time. Water was dripping from the outside case and onto the inside mat. Despite the machine mayhem, I persevered and four 15 minute cycles ended up taking me three hours! So much for a quick morning load of washing.

Second chore of the day – I called the bank to do some online banking. The previous week I had an episode that ended getting me blocked as I had forgotten my darn password. When I called I was connected to an operator who told me my online banking account was suspended. They informed me that I have to go and to my local branch for them to identify me so my account ban can be lifted. Seriously? I wasn’t pleasant and told the operator I was very frustrated as that’s exactly what I had done last week and was assured by bank staff that everything was fine. Obviously not. So where am I going tomorrow? Off to the bank!

Third chore of the day – Make important calls. Every time I called anyone it was, “press 1 for Insurance, press 2 for Home and Contents, press 3 if you want to pay” etc. By the time I got to speak to a real person I was incredibly frustrated and completely over it.

What happened to contacting an organisation, speaking to a real person and hearing them say “just hold the line and I will connect you”? I feel like modern technology has made things so much more complicated. Nowadays, once you have put all your details into the automated system you end up telling the operator exactly the same thing when you speak to them anyway. What a complete waste of my time.

Here is a fine example of the automated system I experienced last Friday. I called a government organisation and was put into the system for a ‘call back’, which would come anytime throughout the rest of the day and up to 9.00pm that night. I was okay with that, so I agreed to the call back and waited. It was about 8:45pm when I received the call and the lady on the other end of the line asked me to confirm my name and date of birth so she knew it was me she was speaking to. I then advised her that there was no way was I going to give her that information over the phone as I had no idea who she was. What happened next? Wait for it… “Well then I can’t help you so you will have to ring back on Monday”. What the heck?! What a complete waste of my time.

After such a frustrating start to the week, here’s hoping that Tuesday is a streamline process!

Do you get frustrated speaking to robots instead of people on the phone? What’s the most frustrating thing that’s happened to you lately?

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