Within the past few days, I’ve received two telemarketer calls wherein I wasn’t sure whether it was a recording or a person. Have they gotten that sophisticated?
About 10 seconds into the “survey” I asked, “Is this a recording or a person?”. She said, “This is a person.”, but the answer seemed too pat as if they were expecting that question. I then asked, “What color is the sky?”, whereupon the caller disconnected.
With the 2nd one, my answers were unexpected. “Do you currently have a home security system?” To which I responded, “Oui, madam”. Then, there was a long pause as if the computer was trying to interpret my answer. When I asked where she was calling from, she (or the computer) quickly gave me a company name, but when I said, "No, what city are you calling from ", there was no answer at the other end and she simply asked another question. I hung up.
This article from The Atlantic describes a technology in which the calling party is a person sitting at a keyboard pressing buttons to play responses appropriately. All of the responses are pre-recorded.
I’ve had calls like that in the past. I asked if they were a robot and they said no. I asked if they were a person and they said yes. I asked why they sounded like a robot and they said they could only respond with pre-recorded statements. So I guess my telemarketer had recorded a specific response to that question.
I suppose that’s less annoying than the unintelligible sing-song of an underpaid schmuck in India. And much cheaper than a perfectly intelligible schmuck in any of the first world countries.
My guess is that’s the idea; it doesn’t matter how good the operator’s English is. I think some companies use online chat for sales and support issues for the same reason.
I think I got that call. First she asked to confirm my name, and I said yes. Then I thought it was a robocall, and before hanging up I said “bullshit”, and the voice stopped for a moment, and then she said “What was that?” I said “Oh, you sounded like a recording”. There was always a pause of a beat or so before she answered me. She said “Oh, do I sound that bad?” The fact is, she had an incredibly beautiful voice, with the tones and diction of a voice over announcer. I said, “No, you sound that good.”
I made short of the call, but I wish I had asked what she was wearing. She sounded totally hot. I hope she calls back, I want her.
I feel sorry for the poll takers who have to go through a series of 20 questions saying:
*If you knew candidate Jones was a convicted child molester would you be much less likely to vote for him, slightly less likely to vote for him, neither more nor less likely to vote for him, slightly more likely to vote for him, much more likely to vote for him?
If you knew candidate Jones wanted to bring terrorist immigrant children into your community would you be much less likely to vote for him, slightly less likely to vote for him, neither more nor less likely to vote for him, slightly more likely to vote for him, much more likely to vote for him?
If you knew candidate Jones murdered puppies for fun would you be much less likely to vote for him, slightly less likely to vote for him, neither more nor less likely to vote for him, slightly more likely to vote for him, much more likely to vote for him?*
And so on…
But on a more serious note, it’s also a way to make sure the poll taker doesn’t skew the results by deviating from the script or by varying his tone.