Sorry, Wally. I Did Not Catch That.

Kankakee drugstore owner, wacky inventor and wannabe ladies’ man Wally Green sits in his house developing a new interactive voice response (IVR) recording for callers to his store chain.

In Wally’s voice, callers to his pharmacies will have as much of their time wasted as possible trying to get through to a human.

No dial option, all callers must speak their request.

It will go a little something like this:

Please say in a few words what you are calling about.

“Sorry I did not catch that. Please say…”

“Come again? Please say in a few words what you are calling about. And be sure to take our brief 20 question survey when you are done with this call. Wally thanks you. By the way, he is single and looking.”

Wally Green’s New Self-Checkout

To save money on staffing, Kankakee drugstore owner, wacky inventor and barfly Wally Green installed the new HAL 9000 Grocery Scanners in his corner stores, designed by engineering students from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

“Quantity needed…Dave.”

“Don’t forget to take your items…Dave.”

“Don’t forget to take your items…Dave.”