We all understand the concept of time. Five minutes is five minutes wherever you are on earth. We also know that the faster and further we get away from earth the slower the time passes. Therefore, if a man were to travel from the earth to the nearest galaxy he might think that only 30 minutes have lapsed but back on earth 70 or more years could have gone by.

We all understand this concept. But you know who, I think, do not understand that concept? All the software manufacturers around the world. If you’ve ever been forced to allow your computer to perform a software system update and installation you’ll notice that the concept of time to the software maker and the computer system is a just a suggestion and grossly underestimated.

When a system update is in progress on my computer I often watch the progress bar for how many minutes or hours are remaining for the process to be completed. To those companies, 2 minutes remaining is a concept lost on them. In reality, that 2 minutes is often 30 minutes or more. Why do you think that is? Even if it’s an estimated time, surely they can’t be that far off the mark. Since they are, clearly they do not understand the concept of time and, if that is the case, how can we trust them to produce reliable software? It’s almost as if the manufacturers are in perpetual motion hurtling towards a different part of the universe.

Now we also understand the purpose of call centres. Almost every large corporation (both governments and non-governments) have set them up. Some recruit locally whereas others outsource their call centres, sometimes to other countries. But not all call centre agents are the same. Some know their stuff whereas others are either cold, unfriendly or just plain ignorant, often guessing at the information before giving it out. Whilst outsourcing has its advantages, the problem arises when the agent is based in another country and knows nothing about the rules and regulations of the country from which he is receiving the call. What I often find amusing is when the agent has been of no help and still closes his call with ‘is there anything else I can help you with?’ It’s almost as if they have no self-awareness or the purpose of a call centre. By the way, the same applies to help centres and hotlines.

Transparency and clarity is also lost on some sellers, especially when you’re browsing an online seller’s website. I once had an incident where I placed an order and received an order confirmation only to learn, days later, that the seller had taken the liberty of cancelling my order without telling me because the item I was looking for was not in stock. However, at the time I placed the order, nowhere on the site did it say that the item was currently out of stock. But when I got the cancellation email from the seller, I thought to myself, ‘who cares’ because I hadn’t parted with any money since I was planning to pay by Cash on Delivery anyway. What if I had paid by cash? I’d be spending the next 2 to 3 weeks trying to get a refund and probably coming up against a brick wall. I’m sure you’re aware that people are quick to take your money but not so quick to give it back, even if they didn’t deliver anything.

Why not be clear and say that some items may not be available at the time you place your order and to confirm availability before doing so? Better still, why not just continuously update product information with the words, ‘currently out of stock’ where necessary? It’s like they’re too lazy to do the extra work. But we see this type of information very frequently in supermarkets, if the management and supervisors are diligent.

The repercussions of cold calling seems to be lost on the cold callers. I receive around 10 cold calls a day every day. Sometimes the same number will call me over and over again every day. Some of these calls are automated because when I’ve answered some a bot is at the other end inviting me to some opening or launch. How they got my number is anyone’s guess and I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one, but some cold callers are so brazen that they will tell you that either they’re returning your call or that you’d registered with their platform to do some online trading or investment.

And I’m also pretty sure that neither of these reasons are actually true. When I ask how they got my number I’m often met with pindrop silence.

All that being said, I do feel for these cold callers because they’re trying to earn a living and cold calling may have been the only job that was going. Maybe they have a call quota they are required to complete every day even if the person they’re calling hangs up. Maybe they have a supervisor looking over their shoulder assessing their performance.

In any case, I think cold calling is in very poor taste, and a horrible idea. Those being called do not appreciate it and consider it a form of hassling, especially if the same number is unrelenting.