General Discussion

The institutions have us consumers cornered.

A lot of it is cynicism, laziness, bad upbringing, and bad education at root, imo.

That means a work force with a fully understandably, bad attitude, working for inept, bloated, non-mission-focused administrators. The administrators do everything they can to turn the work over to automation, especially any work they themselves have to do (above and beyond sit in meetings).

Web sites and phone banks are now expertly designed jails. They sell to you, can get information from and about you, can force you to wait forever, force you to commit to costs and obligations.

"Would you like motor oil or puddle mud on that BLT?"

"Mayo please."

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. You can say motor oil or puddle mud. To return to the main menu say or press 4."

"Agent... agent... agent!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Did you know you can access most of our services online. I can text you a link. Just say 'text' and I'll do that."

... That sort of thing should simply be illegal. If a company wastes your time, they should be forced to credit your bank account on a per minute basis.