What is something that is automated that shouldn't be? What is something that isn't that should be?

OMG…those DAMN automated answering devises that companies have. Push this…push that. Makes me boiling mad. Put a human being on the end of that phone!!! Make it that we can talk to a person & give people jobs.

I wish some restaurants were automated again. I miss Horn and Hardart’s Automats – they were so much fun!

Frost-free freezers, a waste of energy. Traffic speed enforcement should be entirely automated (cameras), trained police officers should be employed for more useful purposes.

I think call waiting is the rudest and in most cases an undesirable telephone feature.
I think that call waiting is only of value in emergencies. If you routinely interrupt calls you’re on, to answer a call from someone else, you must be sooooooo important or most of your callers are sooooooooo unimportant!

Voicemail is a great feature, especially if you check it frequently enough to avoid missing an urgent call.

I agree with @jbfletcherfan that corporate multi-tiered voice mail menus are designed to avoid having humans work to route you call to the right department. It is cost-effective but so often has no answer for your reason for calling! Try pressing Zero!

@Dr_Lawrence I do the 0 thing a lot. Eventually someone will come on the line.

Gee… I wish I could bathe like they do on the Jetsons. You know, just get sucked into a tube and be clean and shaved.

DRIVING!!!!!!!!!

I’m afraid I have to toatally disagree with @stranger_in_a_strange_land on this one:

NO traffic enforcement should be automated. _Any traffic enforcement device that reduces operating costs for agencies constitutes a conflict of interest.

Speed and parking control have become nothing more that profit generating ventures for the police. Automated controls reinforce my understanding that angecies are impudent, careless and cynical regarding the Traffic Fine Industry.

If you want to seem more credible to me cops, work for your precious capital.

Wanna really impress me? Divert all fine proceeds towards a charity of your choosing.

What I hate are those automated self-checkout things at stores… not only do they steal a job in places where employment is a problem .. they are also annoying as hell… Please place the item in the.. The item did not scan correctly.. The weight of the item did not match the… Please place the item in the.. GAHHHH! I sooo wanna go office space on one of those…

Customer Survive Departments shouldn’t be so difficult to access. Most companies make you go through three to five minutes of lessening to the Computer before you can push the right number to speak with a Human Representative.
LOL I push 000 but it does not always work.
I know of no case in which I do not prefer speaking with a Human. Unless of course they can not speak English well enough for me to comprehend them.
I experienced this recently when Dell was calling my Husband at home in the middle of the work day.

Agreed @NaturalMineralWater

Self checkouts are annoying for two reasons:

1. They’re annoying.

2. They are a spectre of the Death of Service:

Whether it was waiting on tables or selling Acuras I did everthing I could to give the customer my all when it came to personally attending to their needs.

Is having someone check and bag my groceries for me really too much to ask??

“Go Office Space” awesome and Lurve.

Should Not Be: I completely agree with corporate, multi-tiered phone trees. Makes me want to club someone.

Sould Be: Idealy, I’d like to say ‘nothing’, but that horse has left the stable.

I prefer to interact with another human in most cases. Unfortunately, poor salary, training and work ethic often results in “customer service” folk who are anything but helpful. I’ll take the automatic self-serve check out any day over some disillusioned, cranky, flaky, I’ll-informed or just-plain-rude cashier any day.

(i) People