Alexa is the next target of our quarantine angst

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We all have our ways to cope with stress. Some of us pump iron. Some go to therapy. And some… hurl obscenities at the voice-powered assistant perched innocently on the kitchen counter.

Let’s be honest: We’ve reached the phase of the pandemic when even the most patient among us are starting to lose it. And there’s nothing like a noncompliant robot to make us finally snap. 

The Alexa bullies swear they’re nice people

“I’m not a bad person,” one woman, Angela Hatem, told the Washington Post. “I say things to Alexa that I wouldn’t say to my worst enemy, if I had one… I curse at her. I call her names. I’m very, very mean to her.”

A quick rundown of some of Alexa’s offenses, as outlined by her harassers:

• Not turning on the light when asked.
• Failing to pair with a home security system.
• Mistakenly reading Joe Scarborough’s Wikipedia page every morning when begged to turn on “Morning Joe.” 

“You just want one thing to do its job, and this is a robot,” Hatem said. “Just do the thing you were brought here to do and do it on the first take.”