Twitter discovered how to get past annoying automated phone systems and talk to a real person
Twitter just discovered something exciting that’s going to change your life forever. You know how sometimes when you call your health insurance company or your cable provider, you just want to talk to a real person on the phone? And not have to deal with menu options and automated phone systems that don’t listen? Well, apparently it is possible to avoid that annoying automated phone system — by swearing. Yes, really.
Twitter users @annebot and @CaseyNewton explained that by cursing at an automated phone system, you will be immediately transferred to a person. So simple. So genius. No one likes jumping through hoops with a robot. If you are anything like us, you have probably shouted “representative!” into the phone quite a few times before hitting “0” endlessly. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But this new trick seems to be even better.
First, @CaseyNewton tweeted about his revelation. It happened during a heated conversation with Walgreens’ automated phone system. His tweet quickly went viral, and as of this reporting, it has nearly 5,000 likes. @annebot noticed his tweet and chimed in, saying her friend created and patented the technology. Yes, really — swearing at some automated phone systems is a legit workaround to reach an operator. Who knew?
My friend created and patented this technology! If you swear at an automated system, many will redirect you to an operator. That is a legit way to shortcut automated menus. https://t.co/47yl2iUbDG
— annebot 💖 (@annebot) November 18, 2017
Naturally, other Twitter users were intrigued.
Haha! This is the sort of thing I like to fact check. TRUE! https://t.co/XHXvztSkkK
— Brent Logan (@blogan) November 18, 2017
When someone asked if an exasperated sigh counts as a swear word, @annebot explained what else might work.
Not that I know of. Either profanity OR saying "operator" typically works
— annebot 💖 (@annebot) November 18, 2017
People continued to offer their own life hacks to fight the system.
I yelled "HUMAN HUMAN HUMAN!" at a system the other day and got immediately transferred to a person. It's such a pleasant surprise when technological advances make things BETTER for me instead of worse!
— Naomi Kritzer 🦕🦖 (@NaomiKritzer) November 18, 2017
"Agent" is also a code word to bypass directly to a human https://t.co/HoH83v3QfK
— General Strike (@mtnwizard) November 19, 2017
But let’s all be careful with this new knowledge.
It’s gonna be great when someone on the line goes “excuse me?” And you realize it’s not automated
— Kimberly Mas (@QueKmas) November 18, 2017
Robots don’t have feelings (yet?) but humans do. You can swear to reach an operator, but once you’re connected with one, be kind to your call center representatives!
