erm hello?

last week i called ntuc to renew my motor insurance. it rang for a second and then i was put through to one of those recorded messages.

"thank you for calling ntuc insurance, how may i assist you?"

it took me a few seconds to realise that it was a human, not a recorded message. it felt weird as hell, like i was talking to some advanced form of artificial intelligence.

after confirming some details, she put me on hold. when that was done, out came another recorded message from this robo-woman.

"thank you for holding... blah blah."

there's a very distinct line between good service quality and being a total robot. which would you prefer?