Call a government hot line and chances are that no one answers or you are charged dearly for hearing nonsensical voice messages.

Government hot lines are on the rises lately, giving the impression that they have become part of your life. But when you really resort to them, you are probably more hot-tempered than before you did so.

Since the May Day Holiday, many citizens have dialed local government hot lines to complain about flight delays and tourism frauds, but few have been heeded - no one talks to them at the other end of a hot line. Even in the few cases when one luckily gets through, the person who receives the call will most probably refer it to someone else who in turn refers to yet another person - endless referrals go no where.

Most irritating is the fact that callers are usually obliged to listen to a long, automatic voice message before they can decide who to talk to. At the end of the month, callers get a surprise "gift" - a phone bill for having patiently listened to that vocal garbage.

If government hot lines continue to be no more than a show, they will eventually lose public trust.

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