There are times that I would dearly loved to have strangled the person who invented the hold button!
A few years ago, I needed to take care of an issue with my bank. I ended up waiting on hold for 45 minutes! And even worse was the same annoying few measures of “music” that was interrupted with a message every few seconds about how important my call was and to please continue to hold.
Thanks to the speaker button on the phone, I was able to continue what I was doing – it was the holiday season so the soap making was in full swing – while I waited, and waited, and waited for someone to answer the phone. Once the phone was finally answered, it took only a couple of minutes to resolve.
Oh, and speaking of that speaker phone….
That function is perfectly fine if you are alone or at home BUT, the speaker phone function has absolutely NO place in public settings. I have no interest in listening to you continuous gossip, drug deals, or profane filled aggressive discussions with you baby mama/daddy.
Even at home, I usually hold the phone to my ear. I may use the speaker if I need to access other information or if I get put on that infernal hold. But to me, they can both be very annoying and irritating.
It doesn’t happen jn Canada yet, but when I travel through the US people always use speaker phone in public to talk about the most banal subjects. Why make this public!