Ponder Post 9: Why Does Nothing Work?

I have, today, spent approximately two hours on the phone to three different organisations. About 90 minutes of this time was, of course, spent listening to music and occasionally messages along the lines of, 'Thank you for your patience, your call is moving forward in the queue and will be answered shortly.' I am not naming these organisations because, in one case in particular, I am thinking of turning my dealings with them into a 500,000 word essay entitled Hating People is Right which will constitute my suicide note. Interestingly, nothing was resolved by any of these calls. Indeed, in each case, by calling these people I have created more problems for myself. Each person I spoke to was, as usual, simply following the rules generated by a computer programme. As individuals, they were powerless. They were also callous. My call was not something for which they felt personally responsible; it was, rather, something which had to be handed on to someone else. And, of course, having been handed on, it was impossible to get back to the original person to tell them I had been handed on to the wrong person. One of these companies was a broadband supplier. My problems with them have lasted four weeks. I once set up a broadband connection in New York. It took one phone call. When the kit arrived, remembering my experiences back home, I set aside a morning to get it working. It took 90 seconds. So, okay, somebody explain to me: why does nothing work?