April 23

Hold on….

One of the most unwelcome changes blamed on Covid is the difficulty and frustration of making phone calls.

Whether is a government department, energy company, shop, hospital clinic or doctor’s surgery it is never easy. 

Almost inevitably you find yourself in a queue. 

Sometimes you are given a number but mostly there is no indication of the time you will have to hang on.

But before you get to that you probably have to choose from a number of options, often given at such speed you have to listen again. 

If you are like me old and hard of hearing you give up. 

This morning was typical. I had to ring my local surgery to change an appointment time. Because I have difficulty hearing on the phone I asked  Melissa, my very efficient and cheerful help, to do it.

She was told at first she was number three in a queue but after a ten minute count down she became number three again.That simple call took half an hour, and wasted a lot of time.

I gave Covid as the possible reason for this procrastination but more likely it is a staff and money saving operation. 

The customer or patient is just not important these days.

And it is even more difficult for old people like mec Call centres are a the worst, I find.experience