When They Put You on Hold....

I thought we lived in a high tech world.  We have computers the size of a chocolate bar that can do more than a room full of them used to do.  We can watch TV anywhere on the planet.  All of this is done by huge telecommunication companies.

So, why is it that when you call these companies, you have to listen to terrible, poorly recorded music when they put you on hold?  Why do they subject us to this stuff when they have power over the lines?  Since they own the lines, they should be able to offer us some choice.  Why can't I choose the music I listen to?  Press one for Jazz.  Press two for blues.  Press three for pop.  (you get the idea)  Shouldn't that be easy for them to do?  Why is it that they can't apply some of their high tech to themselves?

Every time I get put on hold, I am forced to listen to some horrible music.  The only time I get spared from this is when they  take time out of torturing me to force me to listen to some overly long and brutally boring commercial.  I am not sure which is worse.

We haven't got the jet packs that they promised us, but we did get some pretty crappy hold music.

Where's my Jet Pack?

Technology is pretty amazing.  We have wafer thin phones which can 1000 more things than my first computer could do.  We have cars that have don't need keys, and can park themselves.  We have televisions that are bigger than some of the screens that were at the Eaton Centre movie theatre (when it was still open).  Great as this is, couldn't we redirect that at some other areas.

When I was a kid we were promised jet packs.  Where are they?  Why do I have to drag my sorry self onto a bus for an hour or more, or drive (concrete bound) on a crowded highway for the same amount of time.  I should be jetting across the sky to work at a speed only a Porsche on an empty highway could achieve.

virtually unchanged in my lifetime

Since that seems so far away, could I, at least, have more modern vending machines?  In Canada, we've been dealing with the same model since long before I was born.  They might have reorganized the buttons, and updated the pictures, but that's it.  In Japan, they have machines which have 24 or more choices, can serve hot or cold beverages (at the same time) and accept $100 bills.

We are putting all our technological eggs in one basket.  We are working on faster computers, more talented phones, and probably cars that can drive themselves.  Maybe we need to look in other areas to invest all this energy and innovation.  Why can't we have remote controls that don't need batteries?  We put all kinds of kinetic energy into them by using them.  We should be able to power them with that.

hot, cold, and lots of choices

Why can't we have a toaster that will evenly toast your bread, and never burn it.  We can put a rover on Mars, but I have to spend many of my precious morning minutes scraping the carbon off my breakfast.

We have the technology, but we need to think of a better way of applying it.