Why are we conditioned to shout to recorded voices? When you call any customer sales representative you will, at some point, be directed to a voice recording. My parents' generation is particularly bad about shouting in general, (see also: foreign countries, languages) but voice recordings might be the worst especially on a cell* phone. Probably because they go on the principal that if they cannot properly hear to person on the other line, they should shout louder because this is clearly a reflection of volume and not reception.
My mother on the phone with eBay:
"CAN. NOT. LOG. IN."
[pause]
"YES."
[pause]
"OKAY."
[pause, representative in Thailand picks up]
It should be noted that after conversing with a machine, speaking to a breathing human is sometimes worse.
"C? No. Not C. Not cat. It's Z. Forget cat! It's zebra!! ZEBRA."
[pause]
"Okay, Vanessa. I don't know what to tell you. I need help, and you're the helper. We need to figure something out. Together."
*My mother sometimes calls this her 'car' phone. Yessss.
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