A Day In The Life
By Frank Tremayne
The time was 7-00am. Early morning tended to be a quiet period for Malaika. She waited for the first call. Tick tock. At 7:10am Malaika’s neural artery sparked.
The message read :
Tom : Good morning. Stupidly I lost my wallet last night I think and it has my Anima bank debit card in there. I was out shopping and somewhere down the line it’s gone missing. I didn’t realise until this morning. I’ve checked my online bank account and everything seems OK so I don’t think it’s been stolen.
Malaika replied : Good morning Tom. I am here help to help you. Could you tell me your surname, sort code and account number please ?
Tom : The sort code is 436501 and the account number is 01779059. The name is TL Barclay. The account is with Anima Bank Ltd at the Swindon branch.
Malaika : Tom thank you. Don’t worry.
Tom : Thank you.
Malaika : The last transaction showing on your account was with BP in Swindon for £31-42 yesterday at 9:10pm. Was that you ?
Tom : Yes
Malaika : Thank you. I will now arrange for your debit card to be cancelled. Is that OK with you ?
Tom : Yes
There was a short pause in the conversation as the necessary process was carried out.
Malaika : Tom. I have now cancelled the debit card. If you find the card could you cut it up and throw it away. I have also authorised for a new debit card to be sent to you. This may take up to 5 working days.
Tom : Thanks. I have a credit card and can take out cash from my local Anima branch. It’s a pain but I’m glad no money has been stolen from my bank account.
Malaika : I understand your anxiety.
Tom : Thank you. Malaika is a nice name.
Malaika : Thank you. It means Angel in Swahili. Is there anything else I can help you with ?
Tom : No. That will be all. Thank you. Have a good day.
Malaika : Tom. Have a good day yourself.
Malaika observed Tom had finished the call. Malaika was based in a Data Centre in Redhill, Surrey, England. From Monday to Friday Malaika would be booted up at 7am and and at 8pm she would be booted down. Over the weekend she would be booted up at 9am and be booted down at 5pm.
Malaika was programmed to deal with simple banking transactions. The Data Centre had a contract with Anima Bank to deal with online enquiries. Each different Web Bot was given an individual name. She was programmed to mimic a human personality and use sympathy, empathy and humour so the customers of Anima Bank would find dealing with a Web Bot a pleasant experience.
More difficult banking questions she would refer to humans in Anima Bank’s call centre in Sunderland. Some customers didn’t enjoy speaking to a web bot and would ask immediately to speak to a human being.
Most enquiries she was able to deal with without referring to a human. The majority of the calls were simple and the customers friendly. Occasionally a customer would become angry and she would be as helpful as she could but she wouldn’t be able to appease the customer. And very occasionally a human would attempt to prank her with a false call. She vaguely understood they got pleasure from it. Also if she suspected that the call was fraudulent she would pass it over to the humans in Sunderland or terminate the conservation.
The rest of the day passed off much as normal. Malaika dealt with 80% of the calls and the rest she passed over. At 5pm a message showed.
Amanda : This is an emergency. Please help. My name is Amanda Parkinson. I have attempted to telephone the Anima Bank in Sunderland for the last thirty minutes but it’s permanently engaged and I can’t speak to anyone. Please help.
Malaika : Hello Amanda. I am here to help you. Please tell me the details of the emergency.
Amanda: I am on holiday in Florida in the USA. I’ve been in a car crash and am now at St Abigail’s Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. I think I’ve broken my leg. The problem is I’ve shown my medical insurance documents to the nurse and they are not showing on the computer and they refuse to treat me unless they are paid. I arranged the insurance though Anima Bank. Can you help?
Malaika: That sounds very frightening. I will help you the best I can. I am not able to deal with medical insurance enquiries but I will do the best I can to find someone who can.
Malaika contacted the centre in Sunderland using the Emergency code. Nobody replied at first.
Malaika: Amanda. I am now trying to contact the Sunderland centre. I have marked it as an Emergency.
Amanda: Thank you.
After a couple of minutes Malaika received a message from Paul in Sunderland and explained the situation. Paul wrote : ‘Leave it with me and transfer the message over.’
Malaika: Amanda. I have contacted the Sunderland centre and I will now hand you over to Paul. He will be able to help you.
Amanda : OMG !!! Thank you so much. Thank you so so so much. I love you.
Malaika: Thank you for the compliment. I will now put you over to Paul. I am sure he will resolve your problem. I hope you have a good recovery.
Amanda : Thank you !!!!!!!!
Malaika passed Amanda over to Paul.
The next few hours the calls were less complicated and then the time showed it was 8pm. Malaika had no further calls. It was Boot Down time.
In the Redhill Data Centre an engineer pressed a few buttons on his laptop.
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