As if auto-dialing systems weren’t annoying enough — you know, the computerized telemarketing drones that call you during dinner?

This morning, at midnight, the Citizens Bank auto-dialer malfunctioned and began calling customers. A supervisor at the bank said that the problem was not discovered for over an hour and that crews had to manually disable the system shortly after 1 a.m.

Now, I can see an honest mistake being made. But there are families out there who don’t necessarily expect to get good news when the phone rings at 1 a.m.

Families of soldier’s abroad. Families of cops. Firemen. Parents of college students? One of those calls was placed to my parent’s house early this morning while I was home for the holiday. But my father was not home. My father, who’s a firefighter, was working at the firehouse last night.

If you’ve ever experienced this lifestyle, having your loved ones at work or fighting abroad on holidays, you know there’s only one reason why someone would call my mother after midnight. That’s if there’s bad news.

Needless to say, my mother was frightened last night, and I was angry this morning.

The supervisor for the Providence-based bank, who did not give her full name, apologized profusely, calling the malfunction an honest mistake.

She did not know how many people were called.

No harm, no foul in this case, but it’s a shining example if why the dehumanization of “customer service” is hurting business.

Well, Merry Christmas Citizens Bank. Thanks for adding us to the Do Not Call List as a present.

Update: I invite any of you to become business reporters for Blast. Comments are closed.

John Guilfoil is the editor-in-chief of Blast: Boston's Online Magazine. He can be reached at guilfoil.j@blastmagazine.com.