Press 1 to listen to this episode… I’m sorry, that command wasn’t recognized.  1.1.1.1.1.111111…  I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that…  Once upon a time, you could call a company and reach a person.  But today, that person has been replaced by layers of phone trees, chatbots, and AI agents that can do everything except care.  Modern companies defend automation as necessary for scale: it’s faster, cheaper, available 24/7, and—supposedly—good enough.  But customers report rising frustration, longer resolution times, and a sense that human empathy has been optimized out. Surveys show over 80% of consumers prefer to speak with a human for complex issues, yet fewer than 20% can do so without repeated transfers or callbacks.  We should have listened to Lily Tomlin when she warned us “We don’t care.  We don’t have to.  We’re the phone company.”  

The moral question: When does automation stop being efficiency—and start being avoidance?

(this episode has explicit content)