Last December I wrote about blogger Seth Godin's wacky idea for call centers to reward customers for calling during busy times. The IVR would capture the caller's information, and an agent would call back when they could. But the caller would also get $20 for the trouble. Godin talks about the potential for "dramatically increasing customer joy."

I thought it was a stupid idea then, and I still do. Here's why: I just called the travel call center for our company. I had to make arrangements to get to our Call Center Demo & Conference in Orlando in May. All operators were busy, but within 20 seconds, a woman came on the line and took my name and number so they could call me back when they weren't busy. What I'm saying is that Godin's idea is being used, but without the silly $20.

They called me back in about an hour. Why would I need any money for that? I was on hold for all of 20 seconds. The reward was avoiding the queue. Why don't more call centers do this? If you know, tell me.