I'm bringing back a long neglected feature, bad customer service. Although a quick search tells me I haven't mentioned this as much on line as in real life, where friends and casual acquaintances who get me on a bad day are liable to receive a long and bitter tirade. Back in September when I was last looking for a job in a moment of weakness I applied for a position at a global IT company that is rather fond of the colour blue. After the initial excitement of the application I waited. And waited. And forgot that I had applied to be honest, because I heard absolutely nothing. Until today, when reviewing the mails rejected by my spam filter I noticed this;

Dear Andrew



Thank you for your recent application to a large IT company*.



After careful consideration we regret to inform you that your skills and experience do not match

our current position requirements. If your skills match future vacancies we will contact you

again. Please let us know if your circumstances change, or if you do not wish us to continue to 

hold your details.



Thank you again for your interest in a large IT company*.



Yours sincerely,

a large IT company* Australia Staffing Team

So by my calculations it has taken them five months to review my application and send a stock response. I was particularly impressed by the last line of the message which states;

This e-mail has been sent by a Service Machine. Please do not reply directly to this e-mail

using a Reply function.

Don't you love the personal touch? Update: I couldn't resist and sent this reply;

Dear a large IT company*,



Thank you very much for taking five months to review my application. I do not wish you to retain

my details as I suspect that by the time you look at them again they will be woefully out of

date.

* Names have been changed to predict the gloriously incompetent.