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I am curious if you ever worked retail before moving into tech? I did and the experience was very much out of a hollywood comedy sometimes. We had all kinds of

I am curious if you ever worked retail before moving into tech? I did and the experience was very much out of a hollywood comedy sometimes. We had all kinds of labels for the buckets of customers but by and large the biggest one was the chatters. Mostly "old" (though now that I myself am "old" I would reclassify them as middle aged) people that wanted to talk to you. About their family, about their hobbies, about their doctors appointment, about every single possible option for their purchase decision, and then they would MAYBE buy a diet coke before leaving. It was infuriating as a teenager just trying to get the job done so I could slack off with the cute crewmembers or read the backs of the video game boxes for the umpteenth time, but now that my social circle has dwindled to wife, children, acquaintances, and work I get it. A deep creeping loneliness when you have no one to talk to and in my case all the money in the world that younger me never could have imagined. It doesn't shock me at all that Amazon would want a way to engage older, generally more wealthy, people and I am sure their expectation is that if successful it would lead to significant sales increases or at least mind share capture for their platform over their competitors. Here's to hoping that they are successful for the sake of the lonely in the world and that they enjoy their 1000% increase in diet coke sales.

sva_ 5y ago
I see what you mean, and I agree. But it's doubtful to me that we're close to a point where people would feel like a voice assistant is an entity worth having meaningful conversation with. It's still a dumb machine, but I'm sure that will change in the future - for some people. Or perhaps I'm overestimating what people know about current 'AI' systems. The less you know about or understand a subject, the more mystical and sometimes interesting it appears.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  Maybe the goal isn't to have people waste time talking to the voice assistant; rather, the goal is to use the voice assistant to discourage the chatters from burning human support agent time by making them navigate a machine system that filters for "real" issues. Customer support is a cost center for most companies, so I can see where the strategy of a) minimize costs and b) provide just enough support that the FTC doesn't get involved while making the experience frustrating enough (including the cancellation experience) that most users accept crappy service.
AlbertCory 5y ago
I'm sure I speak for a lot of people, old and otherwise, when I say this: I fcking hate* those "voice assistants" that companies use on their "support" lines, to avoid hiring actual people. Almost everyone would rather punch "1" or "2" to avoid them. And I doubt that anyone calls them "just to chat" although maybe if I listened to the call logs, I'd be shocked.
specialist 5y ago
Agree with all. Yes and: I'm mostly against voice tech. Just feels weird. Still frustrating to use, after 30+ years. My skepticism that voice would ever become a normal thing was mooted by observing my son play a Living Books CD-ROM adaptation of a Mercer Meyer's Little Critter book. https://archive.org/details/littlecrittergames https://archive.org/details/littlecrittergames Critter asked a question. My son answered. Then nothing happened. My son was hurt, disappointed, confused. No different than if a human child ignored him. My totally obvious prediction: Voice UI will become normal for the generation that grows up with a Critter that understands verbal responses. And to your point, those Alexa style agents will remain their life long companions (pacifiers) into old age. Just like my 84 yo mom's relationship with the TV.
bee_rider 5y ago
For some reason we all enjoyed these experiences at my store. I think it helped that local management had just fundamentally given up, so we knew that as long as some somebody from the larger company hadn't scheduled a visit, we'd have plenty of time to slack off later. Which probably improved customer service, and we did have plenty of regulars, so good job management. "Just get the truck done" could probably have been our motto.

sva_ 5y ago

I see what you mean, and I agree. But it's doubtful to me that we're close to a point where people would feel like a voice assistant is an entity worth having meaningful conversation with. It's still a dumb machine, but I'm sure that will change in the future - for some people. Or perhaps I'm overestimating what people know about current 'AI' systems. The less you know about or understand a subject, the more mystical and sometimes interesting it appears.

InitialLastName 5y ago
Maybe the goal isn't to have people waste time talking to the voice assistant; rather, the goal is to use the voice assistant to discourage the chatters from burning human support agent time by making them navigate a machine system that filters for "real" issues. Customer support is a cost center for most companies, so I can see where the strategy of a) minimize costs and b) provide just enough support that the FTC doesn't get involved while making the experience frustrating enough (including the cancellation experience) that most users accept crappy service.

AlbertCory 5y ago

I'm sure I speak for a lot of people, old and otherwise, when I say this: I fcking hate* those "voice assistants" that companies use on their "support" lines, to avoid hiring actual people. Almost everyone would rather punch "1" or "2" to avoid them. And I doubt that anyone calls them "just to chat" although maybe if I listened to the call logs, I'd be shocked.

specialist 5y ago

Agree with all. Yes and: I'm mostly against voice tech. Just feels weird. Still frustrating to use, after 30+ years. My skepticism that voice would ever become a normal thing was mooted by observing my son play a Living Books CD-ROM adaptation of a Mercer Meyer's Little Critter book. https://archive.org/details/littlecrittergames https://archive.org/details/littlecrittergames Critter asked a question. My son answered. Then nothing happened. My son was hurt, disappointed, confused. No different than if a human child ignored him. My totally obvious prediction: Voice UI will become normal for the generation that grows up with a Critter that understands verbal responses. And to your point, those Alexa style agents will remain their life long companions (pacifiers) into old age. Just like my 84 yo mom's relationship with the TV.

bee_rider 5y ago

For some reason we all enjoyed these experiences at my store. I think it helped that local management had just fundamentally given up, so we knew that as long as some somebody from the larger company hadn't scheduled a visit, we'd have plenty of time to slack off later. Which probably improved customer service, and we did have plenty of regulars, so good job management. "Just get the truck done" could probably have been our motto.