Yes, it is an increasingly false world. I dial the phone, which was once a useful instrument of direct communication with other human beings, and I get a mindless computerized voice that cycles me through useless menus of choices I don't necessarily want and then finally puts me on hold waiting for a real human...where I sit listening with increasing irritation to music I don't want to listen to...which is interrupted every 30 seconds by another computerized voice that tells me...

"Your call is important to us..." (Bullshit! It isn't! They don't give a damn.)

"Please stay on the line..." (Well, duh!)

"And the first available representative will by with you shortly..." (Yeah, right...I'll believe that when it happens.)

And then the infernal music comes on again, and I wait another 30 seconds and the message comes on again, and I do that for who knows how long until I finally get fed up and hang up!

I then send the fuckers an email, and resolve not to bother even trying to phone anyone in future. Fuck them. The phone has become a torture instrument and an avenue for telemarketers to harass people.

It's unreal, all right. It's ludicrous.