If you have followed my column for any length of time (and if you haven’t, shame!) you would know that I consider the advent of the automated phone menu no less a sign of the decline of modern civilization than the $780,000 court award given to a woman who broke her ankle tripping over her own son in a furniture store, then sued the store owners for damages (yes, it really happened).  A recent round of conversations with service providers, however, has left me feeling like a good old computer-generated voice isn’t all that bad. 

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