I See Why Classical Music Is So Lengthy

I have discovered why classical music is so lengthy. It was devised as on-hold music hundreds of years before the telephone was invented. Those composers were a clever bunch of buggers. Look at Ravel and his Boléro. It goes for some 17 minutes, at least one recording that I own does, and that is probably a bit short for today's usage.

My discovery occurred when I had to purchase some hardware from Telstra for work. I visited the Website for the item in particular, a router for a GPS, and it provided contact details at Telstra. I rang this number to talk to a Telstra Account Executive and had to wait for seven minutes before getting hold of David from Blackberry support. He put me in touch with Sam at Telstra Sales at the ten minute mark of my call. Unfortunately Sam couldn't help me and said that he'd find the right contact at Bigpond. Layla from Bigpond (Residential) answered the phone after 17 minutes. This was even though I had a commercial application which earlier people had been made aware of. Layla put me on hold until 22 minutes whilst searching for the correct contact. I was then forwarded to Eugene in Mobiles (Residential) after 28 minutes. As this wasn't the right person he put me through to Abs in Telstra Business whom I spoke to at the 35 minute mark. Abs knew what I wanted and prepared a quotation for me. Forty eight minutes after commencing my call he emailed a quote. I did ask for contact details in case there was a problem and I had to find him but he wouldn't provide them. All the time I was waiting they played classical music. Even Boléro would have to be looped a few times for the entire period I was waiting. I'm very glad to have a hands free phone so that I didn't get a crick in my neck and could get on with some other work.

Guess what? The email never arrived. Next morning I rang the correct section and spoke to Gary. After seven minutes he faxed a quote which actually arrived. Another thing that gets me about this huge telecommunications company is the fact that they are so hard to communicate with. Gary only provided a fax number with which to contact him. No direct line or email. Stupid really.