By Henry Briggs
For Main Line Media News
I had called about a bill from Quest that was denied. The Blue Cross recording told me the call was being recorded for training and quality purposes.
Hey, good idea! I thought. Being caught in the middle between two companies can be difficult, so, for accuracy and sanity purposes (so I could quote Blue Cross to Quest if necessary), I started recording, too.
How cool was that! A real bonding moment. Just me and one of today’s huge, impersonal bureaucracies sharing a common activity.
When a Blue Cross human eventually came on the line, I happily told her what we were doing together. She said it was Blue Cross policy not to talk to me unless I stopped recording. (I guess she felt my bonding with Blue Cross was an overreach.)
My immediate instinct was to offer a few policies of my own, but the Quest bill was pretty hefty. So I did what any red-blooded American would do. I caved.
Later I called the Blue Cross PR department to ask if it was Blue Cross policy to record conversations but forbid customers from doing the same thing. Yes, said a very nice PR guy. Blue Cross does have that policy, but only because of an abundance of concern for their customers.
Uh...?
Yep. The very nice PR guy told me that Blue Cross, per HIPA rules, is duty bound to protect the customer’s privacy; while they know they can protect their own recording from prying ears, they can’t protect the customer, from, say, blasting the recording out to other people, thereby invading his/her own privacy.
Wow. I, for one, am grateful. Who knows when or how long I could go without telling a total stranger my most private health information.
Now that’s a caring company.
I’ve noticed a lot of companies really caring about me lately. My call is always important to Comcast and Verizon. Just ask them. Macy’s and Brooks Brothers, Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy like me so much they send and email me special notices about special sales that they don’t send to unspecial people.
(I am discrete enough not to tell my friends about all this affection; it might hurt their feelings.)
Financial institutions really value me, too, especially the big banks. Whenever I go to a branch, tellers offer me new credit cards. When I am on hold waiting to be told about my call being recorded, they entertain me with little tips on new services and invite me to open more accounts.
It’s enough to make me blush. I just had no idea how popular I am.
Google likes me so much, a few days ago, right out of the blue, they started emailing me to remind me about appointments I’d entered in my Apple calendar.
At first it scared me. After all, I had no idea they were looking at my private information. And I especially didn’t know why they did it; my life is about as exciting as binary code.
At first I googled Google, but couldn’t find the answer. So, I went retro: I found a telephone number at “gethuman.com” and called.
The Google lady was nice, too. She thought I might have “synched” my calendar to Google, but didn’t know. When I asked how to separate my personal life from Google, she suggested I call Apple. Then she asked if I’d answer a survey of customer satisfaction about the call.
I felt so special! Even Google wants to know how I feel.
That’s when I realized I’m just very special. Normal people may not like me much, my friends may avoid me, but big, impersonal companies love me!
I passed on the survey. I’m pretty sure, if Google can reach into the netherworld of my computer, if they can send me ads for things I don’t even realize I like, they can figure out my answers to a few simple survey questions.
And I’m not sure if I’ll call Apple. They might be jealous of my relationship with Blue Cross, national retailers, big banks — and Google.
For Main Line Media News
I had called about a bill from Quest that was denied. The Blue Cross recording told me the call was being recorded for training and quality purposes.
Hey, good idea! I thought. Being caught in the middle between two companies can be difficult, so, for accuracy and sanity purposes (so I could quote Blue Cross to Quest if necessary), I started recording, too.
How cool was that! A real bonding moment. Just me and one of today’s huge, impersonal bureaucracies sharing a common activity.
When a Blue Cross human eventually came on the line, I happily told her what we were doing together. She said it was Blue Cross policy not to talk to me unless I stopped recording. (I guess she felt my bonding with Blue Cross was an overreach.)
My immediate instinct was to offer a few policies of my own, but the Quest bill was pretty hefty. So I did what any red-blooded American would do. I caved.
Later I called the Blue Cross PR department to ask if it was Blue Cross policy to record conversations but forbid customers from doing the same thing. Yes, said a very nice PR guy. Blue Cross does have that policy, but only because of an abundance of concern for their customers.
Uh...?
Yep. The very nice PR guy told me that Blue Cross, per HIPA rules, is duty bound to protect the customer’s privacy; while they know they can protect their own recording from prying ears, they can’t protect the customer, from, say, blasting the recording out to other people, thereby invading his/her own privacy.
Wow. I, for one, am grateful. Who knows when or how long I could go without telling a total stranger my most private health information.
Now that’s a caring company.
I’ve noticed a lot of companies really caring about me lately. My call is always important to Comcast and Verizon. Just ask them. Macy’s and Brooks Brothers, Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy like me so much they send and email me special notices about special sales that they don’t send to unspecial people.
(I am discrete enough not to tell my friends about all this affection; it might hurt their feelings.)
Financial institutions really value me, too, especially the big banks. Whenever I go to a branch, tellers offer me new credit cards. When I am on hold waiting to be told about my call being recorded, they entertain me with little tips on new services and invite me to open more accounts.
It’s enough to make me blush. I just had no idea how popular I am.
Google likes me so much, a few days ago, right out of the blue, they started emailing me to remind me about appointments I’d entered in my Apple calendar.
At first it scared me. After all, I had no idea they were looking at my private information. And I especially didn’t know why they did it; my life is about as exciting as binary code.
At first I googled Google, but couldn’t find the answer. So, I went retro: I found a telephone number at “gethuman.com” and called.
The Google lady was nice, too. She thought I might have “synched” my calendar to Google, but didn’t know. When I asked how to separate my personal life from Google, she suggested I call Apple. Then she asked if I’d answer a survey of customer satisfaction about the call.
I felt so special! Even Google wants to know how I feel.
That’s when I realized I’m just very special. Normal people may not like me much, my friends may avoid me, but big, impersonal companies love me!
I passed on the survey. I’m pretty sure, if Google can reach into the netherworld of my computer, if they can send me ads for things I don’t even realize I like, they can figure out my answers to a few simple survey questions.
And I’m not sure if I’ll call Apple. They might be jealous of my relationship with Blue Cross, national retailers, big banks — and Google.
