Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/26/listen-to-this-call-i-got-from.html
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8 Likes
Alice is either reading from a script, or, more likely, simply pressing buttons that play bits of a pre-recorded script.
So an AI-driven bot speaking with a button-pushing Mechanical Turk. This is what we’ve been reduced to.
I wonder if ACS has this worthy foundation on its client list. Seems like their kind of charity.
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Let’s leave the calling bots and the answering bots drive each other crazy!
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Pretty soon, perhaps right now, a significant part of data transmissions on the planet will be just bots endlessly talking to each other.
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So that’s why my Internet is so slow!!!
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So…bot mots?
(I’ll just see myself out.)
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I notice jollyrogertelephone.com is based in Monrovia, CA - my home town!
Go Wildcats!
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My favorite telemarketer-harassing bot is “Lenny”, who has a great way of rambling on and on.
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And it will STILL be an improvement on social networking…
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I got a call from some fake police charity last year that opened with the exact same “So good to hear a nice voice again” gag. In this case, the caller was a male.
I was so peeved about how lame and forced the joke was, I immediately hit 'em with my Deep-Voiced Pissed-Off Asshole voice and scared 'em off in less than a minute.
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I liked it when they “switched over” to “another woman” to verify the details, but it was clearly another set of prerecorded messages being run by the same person (and who didn’t have enough sound board options to do much except hang up when not getting the information that was needed). I’m assuming it was run by a person, as bots aren’t great at identifying responses. I’m guessing the sound boards are because it’s being run out of India, and no human being ever speaks.
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I, too, hold Lenny in higher regards than I hold many homo sapiens-based automated telephony systems.
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Can I put you down for $20? Yes?
You suck! That’ll be $20.
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It’s amazing how the guy stays on the line while calling Lenny mad and telling him to shut up. Why doesn’t he just find a way to exit and try another mark?
The Alicebot was bad, but the Jenbot needs some serious debugging.
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#BYE BYE
djabjlbljh something
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I purchased some migraine pills on the interwebs
before I could establish that they were not scientifically
proven medicine my bad…
but there telemarketing will go on and on…
now I just have that headache on a headache
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I’ve had a few telemarketing job, when I was younger, needed to pay bills, and had experience in nothing at all. Sometimes it has been in really crappy places reeking of illegal indoor cigarettes and shady strategies. I hated it, and people treating me badly made it worse.
I’ve always felt the politest strategy to put telemarketers off is swiftly ending the call with “sorry, I would never buy something over the phone, and I don’t want to waste your time.”
Whilst I understand the frustration at telemarketers, I don’t think it’s nice or fair to penalise the poorly paid peons by messing with them, when it’s really the sleazy corporate overlords you have issues with.
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I can empathize with people who are just trying to do a job, and I’ll try to let them down as gently as I can. Heaven knows, I’ve been in sales myself, so I can respect it.
But the ones who are obviously trying to sell a scam (“This is Windows Technical Support, our data shows you have a virus…” Really? When the machine is currently turned off?) are, IMHO, not worth respect. I got into an argument with one the other day who insisted my Medicaid records with my doctor needed to be upgraded. One, I haven’t seen a doctor for three years and two, I’m not on Medicaid and never have been, and when I told him no, he kept insisting. He got a few choice words before I slammed the phone down. Persistence is one thing, scamming is another, and I’ve got no time or patience for the latter.
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You mean spamming. Spam and ads are a sizeable percentage of all trafic already.
Bots writting junk so other Bots can sort the junk out again.
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