[Superman]

I've had pretty good luck reaching court clerks in our local jurisdictions, including Seattle, but then we're not California. And as you know, I'm somewhat sympathetic to government agencies. Somewhat. Automated service is necessary to government offices that have fallen victim to conservative legislators whose constituents HATE gubmint. Those legislators (you can tell who they are because they have an "R" next to their names. I think it should be an "A" for Anarchists) voted, perhaps several times, to cut the budgets of those offices. So, this is what you get.

In the government office I managed, if we did not have automated lines, we would have answered the phones with real people and probably would have just about had time to handle all those calls. But we would not have had the additional time to process the 70,000 annual forms that were necessary to pay contractors on public works. So, the contractors would get all their questions answered cheerfully and accurately by a warm human being. They just wouldn't have gotten paid for their construction services.