I hate nothing as much as voice-interactive phone menus

[Orrex]

Especially the ones that say "sorry, I don't understand that request" when I press 0.

I know, of course, that these aren't intended to provide a convenience for the callers; they're simply meant to delay callers so that the human operators on the other end of the line have more time before calls-in-queue start counting against their NQR rating.

But holy moley, could they at least have it sing a song for me or something?

[SanddancerUSA]

1. Try uisng one in the US with anything but an American accent.

I've been reduced to faking an accent to get through on several occasions.

[Orrex]

2. LOL! Welcome to DU!

For my job, I have a five-digit alpha-numeric ID number, which I have to say into the voice recognition system every time I call.

Well, three of the digits are 5, V, and zero. Invariably, the computer misinterprets these as 9, B, and 7, respectively. So I have to repeat my damn number about fifteen times before it finally recognizes me. And since this function serves as the gatekeeper for the phone-in system, I can't get around it; the computer won't let me do anything, or even acknowledge that I have any authority to use the system, until I can force it to recognize my ID number.

Maddening!

[rrneck]

3. I sound a lot

like Dunlap on Red State Update. Those things never work for me. There ought be a discrimination suit in there somewhere.

[madinmaryland]

4. I find that this work's well for getting a real person...

"I want a person, RIGHT THE FUCK NOW"

I think they are programmed to send it to a person when the word "fuck" is spoken.

[AsahinaKimi]

5. What is worse are the ones that HANG UP ON YOU

"We are sorry, all our representives are busy at this time. Please chose a better time to call back.. GOOD BYE!"

CLICK!

[Orrex]

7. It's even better when they hang up after you've spent 10 minutes chatting with the computer

Love it!

[Heddi]

6. i was just about to make a post about that

OMG. I have a pretty clear voice. No accent or anything.

I can *NEVER* get those things to work. NEVER. NEVER.

"Please spell your first name" me: H-E-D-D-I
"You said "M-O-Q-R-Z-M-4-U, is that correct?" me: No, H-E-D-D-I
"I'm sorry, I didn't get your response. Please spell your first name" H-E-D-D-I
"You said 5-v-z-21-15-%-((-g is that correct?" me: dies