From jcb@EDDIE.MIT.EDU Mon Apr 3 14:43:42 1995 Date: Wed, 7 Mar 90 18:21:04 EST From: Jeff Bigler To: sipb@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: I got this from leira--thought the rest of you might like it Reply-To: jcb@EDDIE.MIT.EDU Address: 36 Cook Street Lynn, MA 01902-2757 Telephone: (617) 592-5802 Other-Accounts: jcb@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Zippy-Sez: Eisenhower!! Your mimeograph machine upsets my stomach!! Date: Wed, 7 Mar 90 17:12:09 EST From: Linda L. Julien To: jcb Zippy-Sez: BARRY.. That was the most HEART-WARMING rendition of ``I DID IT MY WAY'' I've ever heard!! Subject: [Foner@YUKON.SCRC.Symbolics.COM: They deserve each other . . . .] I thought you'd be amused by this. I've deleted a whole bunch of headers (at some point a whole bunch of other headers had been deleted). Linda Subject: Service Interaction This was in a letter from a friend of mine who works at XXXX. I thought it would be a good example of what feature interaction can actually do. . . A particularly insidious kind of sales call now appearing in several cities is one which is initiated by computer, and contains recorded questions by some mellifluous voice that requires answers in simple digits or "yes" and "no". A voice recognition circuit then processes your answers and asks further questions based on your former answers. The sales pitch is usually disguised as a survey of some kind. The despicable thing about these things is that they won't leave you alone. If you hang up, they will just call back again. One day my wife got a call from one of these computer systems, and her answering machine answered. The conversation that followed was hilarious, as it consisted of two machines talking to each other without having the slightest idea about what each other was saying. The conversation wound up in an endless loop, as follows: [PHONE] *RING* [ANSWERING MACHINE] "...At the tone, please give your message. BEEEEEP." [PHONE] "Hello. This is [company_name], and we are taking a telephone survey ... when I ask a question, wait for the beep, then please speak plainly. I will repeat your answer back to you, and verify it. First, what is your phone number? BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." (The answering machine, upon hearing the beep, got confused and thought it was a play-back command, and generated another beep in response.) [ANSWERING MACHINE] "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [PHONE] "Thank you! Your phone number was 443-28347-47756-377764-22222. Is that correct? BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [ANSWERING MACHINE] "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [PHONE] "Thank you! Do you have any children? BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [ANSWERING MACHINE] "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [PHONE] Thank you! What is the age of your first child? BEEEEEEEEEEP." [ANSWERING MACHINE] "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [PHONE] "Your first child is 1,222 years old. Is that correct? BEEEEEP." [ANSWERING MACHINE] "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [--------------- BEGIN ENDLESS LOOP ----------------] [PHONE] "Thank you! Do you have any more children? BEEEEEEP." [ANSWERING MACHINE] "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [PHONE] "Thank you! What is this child's age? BEEEP." [ANSWERING MACHINE] "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [PHONE] "This child is 4,233 years old. Is that correct? BEEEEP." [ANSWERING MACHINE] "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." [---------------------END LOOP -----------------------] My wife, upon noticing that the answering machine had been going for over half an hour, turned up the volume to find out what was going on. When she discovered this endless loop (by now she had over 200 children, all over 1,000 years old), she switched off the answering machine. The computer never called again. ----- End Forwarded Messages ----- ----- End Forwarded Messages ----- ----- End Forwarded Messages ----- --- End of forwarded messages ---