@ben 'Insulting' is the right word for it - these companies are insulting their customers, wasting our time with automated replies that just aggregate general text from their website and documentation that in no way answers the specific query the customer carefully worded.

This grumpy thought is brought to you by the fact that I have 3 mails to write after abysmal AI customer experiences this week. On the plus side though, I had a quick & good experience with hands-on human help at my insurance company. I didn’t even have to battle through a phone tree or ’we have a website!' messages to speak to the human in the first place. I want to say something when I see something good, too. To compliment their corporate choices. So I will write a mail of praise to them too.

I appear to be waging a one-woman ’See Something, Say Something’ campaign where I write to companies to register my displeasure when they use AI to enshittify customer service. And when their app is only available to Google & Apple customers. Their AI wastes my time with useless ’customer service’. I take time to word constructive customer feedback. Their AI reads it. I spend time reading a useless AI reply. AI increases productivity my bollix. What a waste of human time.

#OldWomanYellsAtCloud

@jonassmith Jeg bemærker samme situation i vores lokale supermarkeder. Mange står tålmodigt i køen til den betjente kasse mens ingen, eller højst 1 eller 2 personer, bruger de mange selvbetjeningskasser lige ved siden. Det gælder alle aldersgrupper - de unge står også i køen.

Jeg er en af dem, der står i køen, da jeg besluttede mig for et par år siden for ikke at bruge selvbetjening og kun at betale med kontanter. Efter princippet 'use it or lose it', og af hensyn til at bevare lokale jobs.

@timbray Just when I thought this couldn't possibly get any better, I read the #AltText

@Koefoed @pmakholm Indtil du sagde det, troede jeg, at det var standard procedure alle steder, at man remser sin fødselsdato op ved valgbordet inden man kan få stemmesedlen i hånden. Det er netop syret, at man ved en fejl kan stemme via en andens stemmeseddel.

@theappletree I'm a complete fangirl, so my opinion is not to be trusted. But a few others in the thread are enthusiastic about these readings too, so I think it's a safe recommendation objectively too

@dbsalk Heartfelt agreement. I think most authors should never read their own writing to others. Narrating an audiobook is a different skill that few writers have. As the New Yorker's The Writer's Voice often proves. Good to know Mara Wilson is one of the exceptions. Roddy Doyle and Louise Erdrich are too. And Thomas Korsgaard and Lauren Groff, if memory serves.

@beep @awfulwoman Me too

There should be a Nobel Prize in Audiobook Narration and it should be awarded to Indira Varma. Birgit Nilsson singing Wagner. Enrico Caruso singing Puccini. Indira Varma reading Pratchett. A perfect collaboration. Her interpretations of the characters are spot-on and hilarious. Their mannerisms and accents are like the cure for a bad day. Nothing more joyful than hearing a Varma-acted argument between Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick.

#Audiobooks #Discworld
#Books #Bookstodon

@willsigg Welcome to the neighbourhood!

@willsigg @benroyce Your speech was magnificent. Thank you for standing up and speaking out and taking action.

@AgatheBleibtDaheim Morgen Tak i lige måde. And yes, how lovely to have some good political news for once. I am sending the good people of Hungary many grateful and good thoughts today.

@martinodder Tak i lige måde

@kkdk Mange tak Og i lige måde

@lykkebrammer Det var sødt sagt - mange tak I hope you have a lovely week too

@CazimodoCreative God morgen

@RalphBassfeld Thank you, and the same to you

Monday has just walked in. Without so much as a by your leave. Glædelig mandag. Here's a postcard from ⁨#Aarhus⁩, just to wish you a good, calm week.

That time I realised I was somewhere near Fediverse HQ. I like the fact that Mastodon is human-sized, but sometimes wish it were more universally well-known because it was too complicated to explain why I made everyone stop so I could take a photo of the signs.