At least three or four times a day, I answer the phone here, and I am greeted by a “robot.” More often than not, the robot is trying to tempt me into signing up for some government program that will send me a check with which I can pay my bills. I have learned not to trust any “government” program that offers to “give” me “free money.” I have to admit, these robots are beginning to get rather sophisticated, and it can be difficult to tell whether it’s a robot or a real person.
Once, I received a call from a robot who sounded much like a real person, but the voice had a slight hint of a robotic tone. Often, if the voice on the other end of the line hesitates slightly before they speak, that’s a clue that it’s a robot. The robot’s computer doesn’t process what you are saying quite as quickly as a real person would. Just a few minutes ago, I had a robot call, in which the nice female robot lady asked me how I was doing. I decided to have a little fun, so I responded with, “You know, I’m glad you asked. I woke up this morning and my ankle was killing me (actually, this wasn’t entirely true, my ankle felt fine this morning). You know, I broke my ankle a few years ago and every once in a while it gets so stiff, I can hardly move. But enough about me, how are you doing this morning?” At this point, the nice female robot lady said, “I’m sorry to have disturbed you, goodbye.”