Green Shoots: Press 9 for pure frustration

Did you know that Eskom has done away with in-person service centres? You can only try to fix problems with your electricity by calling a call centre. You do not know intransigence until you speak to one of their agents. The experience makes Monty Python look positively sane.

My wife has been trying for some time now to sort out a billing issue with Vodacom. She ventured into the online method of procuring a phone, and it is proving quite a challenge to move the conversation forward. I sympathise – it wasn’t that long ago that I, too, had the pleasure of long telephonic arguments with a disembodied voice at the other end.

Political representatives like ministers and presidents have carefully choreographed engagement moments with the electorate. There is always an exit option. I recently watched the MMC for finance in Cape Town leave a community consultation because the crowd wouldn’t let him weave his long explanation for why there were failures in delivery – I think it was a housing matter. I hear that he didn’t even bother to forego his prepared speech to respond to the questions coming from the floor.

I haven’t yet mastered the online shopping thing, and not that long ago, ended up paying for dinner for the Uber Eats guy because Joburg has many street addresses that are the same but in different suburbs. My burgers and chips went to Parktown instead of where I was waiting, hungry as hell.

But there are many friends and family who only do online shopping and enjoy not having to deal with people ‘in-real-life’ (IRL). Me, not so much, and for good reason.

The first issue I have is that automation has to impact employment levels. I remember railing against the introduction of machines to pay for parking at the airport and shopping centres. No doubt this replacement of humans with machines happens in other sectors of our economy, too. Without the accompanying upskilling or reskilling of workers, it just seems to me that increased profit is enabled at the cost of jobs.

My second gripe is that it is almost impossible to sort out problems over the phone, and I resent not being given a chance to talk to a warm body, to connect as humans. The anonymity of the call centre, especially with Eskom, who hold the power to cut or restore your lights, mutes the passion and persuasive skills a face-to-face encounter allows. My words alone into a hand-held device have nothing on the capability of my facial expressions to get a message across. In online meetings, my colleague would text me to ‘fix my face,’ and a couple of us GT men are known for our expressions of incredulity. It works! 

Thirdly, political representatives will never feel the heat of community disaffection if their engagement with people IRL is always stage managed. We need to get our politicians into spaces where they have to engage with the uncomfortable emotions of people who are not happy. It is then that they might feel the urge to be accountable and do something in response. It’s discomfort as a consequence.

It's a fast-paced world we live in. The online phenomenon hastened by COVID has brought a great deal of benefit. In my work, we move at lightning speed, and our connectedness to partners in far-flung regions of the globe has helped deepen our practice of solidarity. I have regular video calls with good friends abroad – I look forward to pouring a glass of wine and socialising with them for a few hours onscreen. But I will trade Zoom and Teams any day for encounters that happen in real life. It makes for a genuine connection between humans, and heaven knows we need more of that. It also focuses the minds of service providers and politicians when they can see your frowning countenance across the counter - a great incentive for accountability and service delivery.