My Pet Peeve!

I am not one who has many pet peeves.... I think "Peeve" is a great name for a pet, though... so don't be surprised if I use it someday if I ever have a pet...which I hope I don't. Anyway, I can't rattle you off a list of the top 5 things the "irk" me... but I can tell you one thing that does FOR SURE - and that is talking on the phone to a computer! It drives me NUTS! A while ago I was needing some information from my bank so I called them, only to be answered by a computer that wants me to talk back to it. I was in the car with my screaming children (I know... bad... but I was pulling over into a parking lot at the time I made the call, so...) Here is a little of how the conversation went: Welcome to the (fill in your bank's name here) customer help line, for English, say "English" (and of course then the Spanish option, which I don't know how to type, so I won't pretend I do!) It then wanted me to enter or say my account number. That was easy enough... I could enter it in on my phone, but then came the hard part - the speech access - and there is no more typing in your options at this point. The computer asks which account I am needing to access and I say "checking", but because all of my kids are screaming the computer thinks I am speaking another language or something because it keeps asking me to repeat that. Then it assumes I said "savings" and asks, "Now you want savings, is that correct?", to which I answer promptly with a NO! I then hear, "OH, I am sorry, let me start over... which account would you like to access?" And then the same thing happens again! I decide that it is impossible to speak to anything like this when kids are around! I get out of the car and stand by it in the parking lot... but there is so much wind and a lot of cars going by, so it can't understand a word I say! (those computers are SO sensitive to any sound!) I go round and round in the same fashion until I get frustrated and hang up. This same scenario has happened so many times!! So you might think that I should do my important calls at home, but the same thing happens at home, also! Why is it that kids don't ever listen to you unless they hear that you are speaking to someone on the phone!? They couldn't care less if I am around most of the time, but the minute I need to make an important call they act as if they haven't seen me in months... screaming and crying unless they can sit on my lap (all at the same time) and have all of my attention. I have tried locking myself in a room - and the stupid voice computer can't tell what I am saying over the horrific screams and poundings on the bedroom door. I have tried going outside for peace and quiet, but the dumb trains and air force jets going by every 30 seconds make that a hard place to speak, too - and of course, the kids follow me out! So, I found that if I just sit in my parked car in the driveway without my kids, it works... well, ONCE it did, anyway - until my kids caught on to where my hiding place was! So... what I have concluded, is there IS no chance for peace and quiet as a mother - and that does NOT work with some technology!