Ivada Nuff (53) made a call to United Airlines last night at approximately 8 pm. She soon found herself embroiled in the most frustrating conversation of her life.
An automated system picked up Ms. Nuff's call. "How may I help you?," the mechanized voice asked. She was given four choices, "New Reservations," "Existing Reservations," "Flight Status" and "Mileage Plus." Ms. Nuff calmly said "Existing Reservations" into her telephone receiver.
"Sorry, I didn't understand you," replied the automated voice. "You can say..." Slightly frustrated, Ms. Nuff repeated "Existing Reservations" into the phone. "OK, Mileage Plus," said the voice. "If that is correct, say yes. Otherwise, say no."
"No!!!" she said emphatically into the receiver, beginning to lose her cool. When asked for her Mileage Plus number, she screamed in frustration, "I don't have one, you ##!!! ," uttering some four letter words that had not entered her vocabulary for years.
"Sorry. I didn't understand. Please state your Mileage Plus number again." Ms. Nuff pressed zero, hoping to speak to a live operator.
"OK," the automated voice said. "You want to talk to an agent. To better direct you, please tell me what you're calling about. You can say, 'New Reservations,' 'Existing Reservations,' 'Flight Status,' or 'Mileage Plus.'"
"That's the point where I really lost it. I threw the phone through the window, shattering it into hundreds of little pieces." Ms. Nuff reported.
Bee Kuayit, Ms. Nuff's next door neighbor , went over to see about the commotion. "She was shrieking when she came to the door," reported Ms. Kuayit. I asked her what was wrong, but she just mumbled something about an 'existing reservation' and then cried. It was all very strange."
Due to her inability to change the flight, Ms, Nuff is still booked with a United reservation to Washington D.C. for a business trip on the first of next month at 7 a.m., although her company's meeting has been rescheduled for the following month.
Nahtu Swift, Ms. Nuff's supervisor at work, understandably refused to pay for two trips. "I'm no pushover," he began, "so I gave Ms. Nuff two choices. 'Number one, you can go to D.C. on your own to see the sights and wander around like an aimless vagabond OR you can come to the business meeting the following month like you are supposed to. But not both, do you understand?' I got tough with her but she just gave me a big hug and couldn't stop thanking me."
"All's well that ends well," reported Ms. Nuff. "Now if only I could cancel my newspaper delivery. I try to reach them once or twice per year, but this has been going on since 2010!"
Written by Diana Shapiro
Photo courtesy of midlifebachelor.com
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