Usually, the phone tree process for any corporate call-in help line is either migraine-inducing or so frustrating you find yourself spewing rancid obscenities at the robotic prompts until your throat gets raw.
With the Telephonic Literary Union’s Human Resources, getting lost in a phone tree is a new-found pleasure.
The first offering of Woolly Mammoth’s on-demand digital season turns technology on its ear, as the modern “convenience” of an automated telephone menu turns from a teeth-gnashing experience to voyeuristic fun.
After you dial the 800 number provided by Woolly, you are given the usual menu options using your touch keypad. Press a number and either eavesdrop or participate in a variety of mini-dramas, tumbling into a rabbit hole of further options depending on how much time or patience you have.
The number “1” takes you to the claim-filing department, but it’s not the miles of bureaucratic red tape you might expect. Number “2” confirms travel details (and this is a trip of your own choosing, based on your needs and desires), while “3” transports you to the nightmare that is technical assistance. It may be deliberate, and is hilarious, that the soothing, even-toned voice of the tech guy resembles that of Hal from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Press “4” to talk to a human being–eventually, and maybe never, depending on the buttons you press. The hold music is a comical, feel-good variation on the usual peppy Muzak, featuring a rapping, upbeat message that affirms the caller’s humanity while they cool their heels in an endless phone queue.
Human Resources is an inventive and unexpected play on the phone call that lets your fingers do the walking into new worlds and realms of experience. All you need to do is lend an ear.
Telephonic Literary Union: Human Resources is a collaboration of Sarah Lunnie, Stowe Nelson and Yuvika Tolani.. Featuring new works by Brittany K. Allen, Christopher Chen, Hansol Jung and Zeniba Now.
Running time: varies, depending on how many numbers entered on the keypad.
Runs through October 25.
Tickets: $7. Each ticket comes with an access code that is good for a four-day time period. Listen from 12:01am Thursday – 11:59pm Sunday during that window. Tickets are available online at woollymammoth.net, by phone at (202) 393-3939, and via email at [email protected].
