You’re not being helped—you’re being trained to help them.

Customer service used to be a company’s pride. There was someone to answer your call, troubleshoot your problem, and actually resolve things without bouncing you through a maze of hold music and chatbots. But that version of service feels like it’s vanishing fast. In its place is a world where the burden is on you—the customer—to figure things out, troubleshoot on your own, and navigate endless hurdles just to get a human response. It’s not just annoying. It’s exhausting.
Companies pitch these changes as “efficiency” or “innovation,” but most people see them for what they really are: cost-cutting measures disguised as progress. They’ve handed the wheel to automation, outsourced basic help, and created policies that make resolution feel more like punishment. And worst of all, they’ve trained us to accept it. This isn’t just a rant about hold times—it’s a reality check on how businesses are shifting responsibilities onto customers without lowering prices or improving outcomes. These are the clearest signs that customer service isn’t just broken—it’s being offloaded onto the people who used to be served.