Fingers no longer walk yellow pages

The symbol of the fingers walking through the yellow pages of our telephone book is still used but it does not solicit the same magic that it once did. Remember when you really could go to the yellow pages and find a magic number. When you dialed the number you got real information because a real person answered and you could ask the one burning question that would solve an immediate problem.
Now my telephone offers the sweetest merry go round any hateful person could dream up. Know what I mean? First I'm asked to listen closely - by a non-person - to a menu because I'm cautioned that the menu has been recently changed, no doubt to further frustrate me. Then I'm directed to press 2 or 3 or 4 or many more if and when I decide which information I'm seeking. Well you know the routine.
Maybe I can decide which category I think might contain the information I seek. Wrong. Press 2 does not have any facts - given by another non-person - that appears to relate to my question. If it does it is shrouded in esoteric language that doesn't match any common words in the question. If I have fifteen or more minutes to waste, or if I really really really need the information, I persevere. That does not mean the time results in actually getting the information I want.
The recording that answers my call probably saves the company money, at least the salary of the person who could simply answer my question in a heartbeat. Maybe I'm the only one who gets frustrated. I begin questioning my intelligence of paying for a telephone that offers no help to my important problems.
So my fingers walk to the keyboard of my computer. Programmers are smarter about what people - perspective customers - want than the cost-cutters who hide behind the front desks of corporate America.
Naomi Sherer