Press 9 for pure frustration

DID you know that Eskom has done away with in-person service centres? You can only try to fix problems with your electricity by calling a call centre.

- ASHLEY GREEN-THOMPSON

You do not know intransigence until you speak to one of their agents. The experience makes Monty Python look positively sane.

My wife has been trying for some time now to sort out a billing issue with Vodacom. She ventured into the online method of procuring a phone, and it is proving quite a challenge to move the conversation forward. I sympathise — it wasn’t that long ago that I, too, had the pleasure of long telephonic arguments with a disembodied voice at the other end.

Political representatives like ministers and presidents have carefully choreographed engagement moments with the electorate. There is always an exit option. I recently watched the MMC for finance in Cape Town leave a community consultation because the crowd wouldn't let him weave his long explanation for why there were failures in delivery — I think it was a housing matter. I hear that he didn’t even bother to forego his prepared speech to respond to the questions coming from the floor.