Menu Options Have Changed

Helaine just watched as I renewed my prescription for Lipitor. She said, “I’ve never seen someone enter so many numbers.” She was right.

Renewing my prescriptions over the phone, receiving them through the mail, forces me to be more organized than I’d want. There’s no waiting until the last moment in the Geoff tradition. It’s a fact of life because of the payment structure of our company’s prescription plan, which rewards this sort of thing.

Why do ALL voice mail systems share this line: “Please listen carefully as menu options have changed.” Right. What a universal coincidence.

This particular phone system was set up in an annoying way, forcing you to listen to interminable essays about ordering before proceeding to the next step. Much of what was said is germane to a small percentage of the people calling – but everyone has to hear it.

Companies that work hard to minimize the time their employees spend with us aren’t anywhere near as cautious with our time. I wish they were.

Though my credit card is in their system, and the voice system acknowledged that, I had to confirm its existence two more times. It was as if I was being asked, “Are you sure? No, are you really sure?”

When I’ve renewed prescriptions from my local pharmacy, the procedure is much less taxing. Though, in a strange quirk of fate, the local place lists its menu options out of numerical order. So, it’s 1, 4, 2, 6… that sort of thing.

In neither case is a real human involved… except the guy pressing the buttons.