Call waiting ...

Let's hear it for the great British consumer. Infuriated by those mind-numbing encounters with call centres, we are getting our own back with exquisite ingenuity of our own. We ring head office and demand to speak to a human-being. We short-circuit the interminable options by dialling zero, or we select "sales" rather than "service", knowing full well which calls get priority. And if, by some aberration, we finally speak to one of those elusive humans, we keep them chatting just long enough to make them miss their productivity target. Yes, it's unkind - but anyone who has never felt like doing the same should press 1, or say 1, now.

Let's hear it for the great British consumer. Infuriated by those mind-numbing encounters with call centres, we are getting our own back with exquisite ingenuity of our own. We ring head office and demand to speak to a human-being. We short-circuit the interminable options by dialling zero, or we select "sales" rather than "service", knowing full well which calls get priority. And if, by some aberration, we finally speak to one of those elusive humans, we keep them chatting just long enough to make them miss their productivity target. Yes, it's unkind - but anyone who has never felt like doing the same should press 1, or say 1, now.