Automated Customer Service: A Treat from John Scalzi

SF author John Scalzi was on a book tour last month. As a treat for his audiences, he read a new short story, "Automated Customer Service", about the dangers of automated customer service phone lines and the Internet of (Dangerous) Things.

He's now posted on his blog in both text and audio. it It's typical Scalzi, snappy and funny but also quite grim. If you have 12 minutes, I recommend listening to Scalzi's reading of it. Warning: Do not try eating or drinking while reading or listening to this.

Thank you for calling the customer service line of Vacuubot, purveyors of America’s finest automated vacuum cleaners! In order to more efficiently handle call volume, we rely on automated responses. To continue in English, press one. Para Espanol o prima dos.

Let's continue in English. Which Vacuubot product are you calling about? For the Vacuubot S10 model, press one. For the Vacuubot XL model, press two. For the Vacuubot Extreme Clean model, press three.