I did not think I'd seriously wish for any company to have an automated queuing system, but when 20 minutes of your morning is spent dialing and redialing an engaged tone it starts to seem like a good idea.
It's the unfairness of it that is annoying. There is only a brief window while all the appointments get filled and you know that while you're dialling someone else is getting through. You know this because when you do finally talk to someone they tell you you're too late and should try again tomorrow.
It's the worst system in the world. I have to bite my tongue as after a week of hitting redial and hearing the infernal beeping they actually answer the phone.
I catch someone stealing my coffee. I have just enough for one cup in my cafetiere and she's quite a nice young Latino lady but still. You're stealing my coffee? I say incredulously. She's terribly embarrassed, but I had been too busy swearing at the engaged tone to ask. Feel a bit guilty because she was so nice about it, but I barely have enough coffee for the rest of the week and I didn't sleep much last night, so...
...so down at the dentists I'm told he's very impressed with my teeth, but I do need one filling after ten years' of tooth-butcher boycotting. It's not too bad, a pretty horrible experience and the x-ray reveals that my missing fang is actually fully formed inside my jaw. The roots around it are all bent and twisted. One day, he tells me, it will probably start to go nasty, but until then it's fine.
The hygienist scrapes and stabs at my teeth and gums for about half an hour. I taste the blood and sweat all over the plastic chair, trying not to move too much. She demands I learn to floss because my teeth are too close together. To discover this, she gets this mini pipe cleaner thing and forces it into the gap between my teeth, whereupon it bends downwards and drills into my gums instead.
200 quid later I am released back into the wild, with orders to return for round two in a couple of weeks.
My teeth hurt just thinking about it.
After a visit to a partially sadistic hygienist once I had to walk home with my teeth dripping blood like I'd just killed and eaten a passing cat on the way.
Re phone cueing:
When I temped at BT they told me how they justified their insanely high prices with their unmatched customer service. When I moved house last week I found BT were the only available supplier on the street, they were going to charge me 125 quid for a connection, and they kept me on hold with no clue how long it would take for 12 mins before I spoke to anyone. On the other hand, I phoned the council to order a bin and a recycling box, their automated system told me that the estimated cueing time was three minutes and if I'd rather I got a call back I just had to type my number in. I received the return call two minutes later. No that's good service.
Yeah, I've never had problems getting through to the Council either. Problems with them not taking our rubbish, or having ridiculous hair-brained schemes, yes.
I just can't believe that anyone would just sigh and tell me to try again tomorrow. Fools!
As for dentists - the bleeding is horrible, but necessary, she assures me with her pretty face.