I just tried to use the automated support system at Paypal…
Sarah – PayPal :
Hello, I’m Sarah and I’m here to answer your questions about PayPal. Even though I’d like to be a real person, I’m not. I’m programmed to answer your questions. How can I help you?
You :
How do I change my security questions?
Sarah – PayPal :
I’m sorry but I’m unavailable right now. Please try again in a few minutes.
You :
what the hell??
Sarah – PayPal :
I’m sorry but I’m unavailable right now. Please try again in a few minutes.
You :
You just ASKED ME how you can help!
Sarah – PayPal :
I’m sorry but I’m unavailable right now. Please try again in a few minutes.
You :
You’re talking to me right now. How can you be unavailable?
Sarah – PayPal :
Et oui,… Mais c’est comme ça. Et sinon ?
You :
what?
Sarah – PayPal :
I’m sorry but I’m unavailable right now. Please try again in a few minutes.
I’d almost rather talk to Sarah Palin than Sarah Paypal.
Ha ha ha …LOL…ha ha ha
Any message that you would like convey through this post- James?
Shrini
[James’ Reply: Yes!]
Haha! I guess both Sarah’s won’t pass the Turing-test.
I have a notion that the software heard your pronunciation of “unavailable” as some sort of generically French sounding. If they are doing Markov-chain-style stuff the potential for switching to a different language from English might have been increased by the number of missed communications (from the perspective of the algorithm).
Surreal.
Hilarious.. 🙂
Sarah Paypal in
This is a lot funnier than the one I ran across. I had a problem with United Airlines, so I decided to try and contact them through email. This link on this page “Email Customer Relations” has been dead for the past month — go figure!!
http://www.united.ca/local/english/customerservice/index.html
but all the links for fees and charges seem to be working just fine. 😉
Funny. I think the message here would be that automation is not the \purpose of all meaning\ and manual testers (in this case could be the human operator) are still required and will be.
Here’s a transcript of a conversation with Sarah when you curse at her. She recognizes four-letter words (at least)! http://mylistofdonts.blogspot.com/2009/04/131-dont-have-encouraged-customers-to.html