“Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last....” from “59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”
When and why did we ever start talking faster?
I first noticed it about 20 years ago when advertisers were doing those medication commercials and needed to tell us all the dangerous side effects we might experience. Do you remember? They ran them at high speed. A necessary evil.
Speed it up; saving air time equals lower production costs.
More recently I observed that on Audible and other storytelling websites, the listener has the option of speeding up or slowing down the words. I wish we could do that with telephone calls. Especially robot messaging, reminders, and voicemails.
Technology may make leaving a message easier, however it does not make it more intelligible.
Why is this my biggest pet peeve, you might ask? Why do I even care?
Well, I have the unique opportunity of captioning calls for people with some degree of hearing loss. I have been doing this, working as a Captioning Agent for about 3 ½ years now. Even though I work part-time, I estimate I have answered approximately 50,000 calls.
I am always amazed that people who call with knowledge of the age or medical challenges of the individuals they are calling don’t take more time to connect and slowly explain the reasons for their calls. When answering the phone it often takes a beat for someone just to hear or discover who is calling, let alone why. That means pharmacies, medical offices.
And,
I worked in an office for a large part of my life as a Secretary, Receptionist, Manager, Desk Clerk, in Personnel and HR. Lots of telephone work. Close to 25 years. Wouldn’t it be more efficient and less frustrating for all of us (with and without hearing loss) to speak to a human who we can understand and with whom we can connect?
To those of you who are already doing a great job of this, BRAVO! You are already helping to make the lives of those you call (and mine) better. I hear you.
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