receptionist

She says she dreams of working abroad in a hotel, either as a receptionist or restaurant staff, or on a cruise ship - "anything that let's me see the world", she says.

So, for some businesses, the notion of a computer receptionist seems a welcome solution to the problem of ineffectual call centers.

"We are the North Korea of the Middle East," a hotel receptionist in Damascus told me last December when I asked for another electronic hotel key.

Dental nurse and receptionist Olivia Tanner has worked at the surgery for four years and faces the brunt of patients' frustration.

The 22-year-old film school graduate, who works as a receptionist at the Ross Stores buying office in downtown Los Angeles, said that for most of those applications, she never heard back — not even a rejection.