BROADCASTS.com

\tOur ice maker in our fridge broke again. I called the service line. You know the drill: obnoxious faux classical music, repeated robotic recordings, \u201cwe care about your business and will answer your call as soon as possible. Please stay on the line.\u201d Finally my call was answered by a woman who said her name was Jennifer and sounded like she was answering from South Asia. I told her our ice maker saga and once she had gotten all the information, she sai,d \u201cthank you ma\u2019am, I just submitted this request and am waiting for a response from my manager.\u201d

\t\u201cOk, thanks,\u201d I said. There was silence. Then, since we were waiting on the phone together, I asked, \u201chow\u2019s your day going?\u201d

\tThere was no response.

\t\u201cAre you there?\u201d I asked.

\t\u201cYes, I\u2019m here ma\u2019am.\u201d

\t\u201cOh good,\u201d I said, \u201cHow\u2019s your day going?\u201d

\t\u201cMa\u2019am, are you talking to me?\u201d

\t\u201cYes, of course, who else would I be talking to? I figured as long as we were waiting, we could chat.\u201d

\t\u201cOh, ma\u2019am, I am so sorry. No one ever talks to me, I just thought that you were talking to someone else. My day is going alright. How is yours?\u201d

\tI was caught off-guard. \u201cWait, is that true? No one ever asks you about your day? Ever?\u201d

\t\u201cNo ma\u2019am. People just call to talk about their refrigerator and most of the time they are very upset.\u201d

\tAfter the call, and after Jennifer had helpfully sorted my broken ice maker, I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about our conversation. What would it be like to be Jennifer? What would it be like to sit in a call center for 12 hours straight, answering calls from angry people who are uniformly short-tempered in a language that is not your own? What would it be like to be called a different name\u2014something that\u2019s easier for Americans to pronounce\u2014and to exist unseen\u2014where you literally can only respond with the scripted responses that the company has green-lighted? What would it be like to work in an environment where you never get to share your passions, your interests, or your dreams? Where you are so divorced from amiable human connection that when you hear, \u201chow\u2019s your day,\u201d you don\u2019t even consider the possibility that someone might be speaking to you?