Automated systems

What's with automated systems these days? Yes, most of the time it's convenient just to listen to one and punch in the number you need. But what if you actually need to talk to a person? What then?

For example, when I call cingular or t-mobile to make a payment, then yeah, i don't want to talk to a representative. However, when I have a question about something, then, yes, I would like to speak to a representative.

Like, in this instance today. I tried to call the DMV to ask about renewing my vehicle registration. Because I never got my renewal slip in the mail. It probably arrived while I was in North Carolina and my parents just never gave it to me. Here comes April, and my registration is about to expire. Now, I don't want to repeat last year's mistake where I got pulled over because my tags were expired. Fortunately, it was because I hadn't put my new one on yet. Unfortunately, that isn't the case here. Looks like I'll have to go over to the DMV tomorrow and stand in line and wait for an hour to find the answer.