Hold that thought

This sounds like the greatest advance in communications technology since the Post-It note:

Virtual Hold Technology based in Akron, Ohio, provides a solution that allows callers to receive a callback without waiting on hold or losing their place in the phone queue. The company has added several new state labor departments to its list of government clients.

Washington State Employment Security Department Commissioner Paul Trause said “virtual queuing” helped his department reduce its phone bill by about $500,000 in the first year of implementation. Unemployment claimants in the state spent about 15 million fewer minutes — about 28 fewer years — holding phones to their ears as a result.

It's hard to imagine a world in which there is no more waiting on hold. It's just as fanciful as imagining a world in which installers and repairers give you a specific time they'll be there instead of making you stay at home all day. Just imagine all the time we'll save from not being on hold -- we could spend much more time waiting in lines!