DES MOINES — Local man Rick Albee, who has been on hold with a federal agency since March 2019 regarding a question about a form, reported Wednesday that the agency's hold music has finally reached its key change.
"I've been waiting for this for years," said Albee, pressing the phone to his ear in the recliner where he takes all of his calls, all of which are this call. "There was a bridge around 2022, then it went back to the flute part for a long time. But this morning it went up a whole step. I got chills."
Albee, who called to ask whether he had filled out Form 88-B correctly, said that in the time he has been on hold he has switched phone carriers twice, become a grandfather, and memorized the recorded message reminding him that most questions can be answered online, at a website that tells him to call the phone number.
The agency confirmed that Albee's call "is very important to us" and that he is currently 41,882nd in line, an improvement of nine places since 2023. A spokesperson said customer satisfaction scores have risen sharply since the agency spent $26 million making the hold music longer.
"We commissioned a piece that never repeats," the spokesperson said. "It's in its fourth movement now. Some of our longtime callers have started a book club."
Albee said he has no plans to hang up. "If I hang up, I lose my place," he said. "Then I'm behind 41,881 people who were smarter than me."
At press time, an agent had finally picked up, told Albee he had reached the wrong department, and transferred him.