I do not know about others but I have some really frustrating experiences with almost all government call centres and quite a few banks. One has to wait for hours before the call is connected and if someone is lucky enough to finally hear the recorded greetings from the other end and dutifully punches various ones and twos as directed by the 'user friendly menu voice', one still has to wait endlessly to get auto response to his inquiry or hear from the 'customer services officer' for manual help. More often than not, the recorded melody indicating transferring of call keeps you company but the person to whom the call is being transferred rarely comes up. I had thought that it happens due to rush load during working hours. So I tried my luck with some call centres at off hours but had the same results. Most probably it is due to lesser number of attendants employed during the off periods. Today, on a Sunday, I had tried NADRA for more than an hour but had no luck. Would the almighty bosses-the DGs, the Chairmen, the Presidents of these departments try calling their call centres once in a while to see for themselves what the public has to put up with? Or, are they too pompous to do such a menial task? -COL (Retd) RIAZ JAFRI, Rawalpindi, via e-mail, August 31.