I’ve been spending a lot of time on hold lately, with various companies for various reasons. Most of these are medical kinda things, so “screw it, it’s not worth it” is not an option. So I sit on hold, sometimes for more than 30 minutes.
I work from home, so typically it’s not a big deal to make the call and work while I wait. Perfect, right? But NOOOOOO, the fucking places have idiotic upbeat stupid hold music. A lot of them also have periodic ads or other vocal interruptions, both of which make it impossible to get any real work done while waiting because it’s just so damn disruptive. I don’t need your upbeat happy music. I don’t need to know that you care about my call and that I’ll be connected to the next available representative. Just be FUCKING QUIET and let me wait in silence while getting a modicum of work done.
Am I alone here? Can we unite to create a movement to kill all hold music? Or, better yet, just get the damn companies to hire enough people so that you don’t have to sit on hold at all, but, in lieu of that, I’ll take a completely silent hold experience.
Also, since it’s the pit: FUCK YOU FUCKING FUCKERS PICK UP THE DAMN RABBIT-FELCHING FUCKING CALL.
You definitely don’t want silence. That just makes you edgy and unsure whether the line drops. I personally think hold music is the best of a bunch of bad options, better if it interrupts to give live details of how far down the queue you are; but silence, or a constant ringing tone are much worse.
Yeah, I was recently on hold for two hours for IKEA, and they added a good, wonderful thing to their goddamn fucking irritating 10s hold music loop (for fuck’s sake, just put on the radio or an entire CD or something ! jingle loops turn your brain into pink mush !). Namely, every once in a while the robot voice would pipe up with “you are number X in the call queue”.
I wish more companies did that, since it lets you guesstimate how long you can put down the phone for.
Yep. Silence is the worst when holding. You need some feedback. Or at least I do. I usually put my phone on speaker when holding, leave it by the computer, and need that audio cue that my call is still live.
The same, it just sucks, though, that even at the lowest volume it still blares too loud for this cowboy. Sometimes I’ve tried to put a chesterfield cushion or something over it to muffle it a bit - to no avail.
Recently, for a nice change from the usual pop orchestra/James Taylor/new age droning, the hold music was this crazily blaring, honking solo sax, and I’m like whoa - they got Pharaoh Sanders or Albert Ayler on the line? Heh. (mind you - it was Totally Hip Technologies:cool: I was phoning, so…)
I have to call insurance companies on a regular basis at work so I hear a lot of hold music. I too would rather have music than a blank line that makes me wonder if they hung up. What I don’t like is the music getting interrupted every 15 seconds to be told that my call is very important and someone will be with me as soon as possible. Just let the music play, please.
There is one company that I call often that has hold music that is weird jazzy versions of 80’s pop music. I have a pretty good relationship with this company since I talk to them so often so one day I said, “You guys have some weird-ass hold music! You need to do something about that!” The lady on the line laughed and said I wasn’t the only one who had said that.
I spend a lot of time on hold for my job, usually with pharmacies. Walgreens has a really annoying style: eleven seconds of music, and then a voice telling me I’m on hold. It wouldn’t be too bad, except that it’s the same eleven seconds, and I always feel that the music is building to something. Not quite a crescendo, but there’s a definite sense of unfulfilled anticipation that never gets resolved. DAMMIT, I JUST WANT TO HEAR THE REST OF THE SONG! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!
.
.
.
.
Thank you
*) Decent music per se but recording quality is incredibly crappy like a radio tuned to a faraway station during a thunderstorm. Tinny treble with distortion static.
*) Decent music per se but interrupted every 25 seconds with really! fucking! loud! announcement that you should “please be patient, your call is very important to us, unlike your eardrums, someone will be with you momentarily”
*) Decent music per se but interrupted every minute or so with really! fucking! loud! advertisements for movies, video games, self-immolation suicide kits, etc
*) “All of our underpaid peons are busy with more important people. If you wish to continue to hold please press 1 now, otherwise we’re disconnecting your ass and forcing you to start over”. Every couple minutes. Seriously!?
*) Very short loop, like 15 seconds, with the tune being interrupted awkwardly in midphrase and restarting
*) I’m almost positive that I can identify Apple Computer as the culprit on this one: “You can select your choice of on-hold music. Press 1 for pop, 2 for easy listening, 3 for classical, or 4 for plain silence”. {presses 4} ==> onhold music proceeds to play pop songs anyhow
And/or loud repetitive virtual finger-wagging advising ( or admonishing ) us to take up your issue/question by using their super-awesome neato easy-to-use website instead of calling.
We should give credit where it’s due. My mom (92, and she’s “been to Disney” 100+ times) says that one brilliant thing they do is make waiting in lines interesting. And waiting on the phone, too, I guess.
I’m going to see if anyone’s posted the music online like the upthread CISCO tune… which is nice ambient music.
Mark me down as another one who hates the interruptions telling me I’m on hold. Until several years ago, it was only annoying because it briefly causes me to think that I am going to be connected because the music stops and a person’s voice starts. But now they’ve added insult to injury as some places now have the recorded voice saying “did you know that you could do many tasks online at www.nofuckingshityoucondescendingassholes.com/ivealreadytriedthat.html?” :mad:
This is very common, and the “Did you know … ?” voice is always annoyingly cheery and upbeat. Where these companies find such a cheery person in their morass of swamp-dwelling syphilitic incompetents I can’t imagine; I suppose they bring them in from the outside to record those messages.
This. 1000 times this. Just let the @#$%& music play. When they interrupt that with a voice you think you’re call’s being answered. You go to pick up the phone & then realize, nope, false alarm, you’re still on hold. After the umpteenth time of crushing your spirit, invariably you’ve learned to tune it out when someone finally does pick it up.
…& as for their ‘helpful’ suggestion, if I could do whatever online, I wouldn’t be calling you in the first place.
Totally Hip Technologies:cool: I was phoning, so…)