WE’VE all experienced it, the worst thing to hit civilisation, writes reader Lee Prescott.

’PHONING a company one hears: "Calls are recorded for training and !?! purposes" etc.

Utter rubbish, what is actually meant is: "Calls are recorded to note abusive callers!"

These resulting from a caller’s degree of patience.

Then its press 1...press 2...press 3...press 4... etc.

In doing so one gets another six so called options usually none of which are relevant to one’s enquiry.

Prior to writing this I experienced one of the stupidest - Curry’s PC World.

Even my doctor’s surgery are at it.

One of the worst is British Gas.

These are eventually followed by a 'voice' making one ask: “Are you a human being or a robot”?

Then we have ordering online, often necessitating waiting in all day for the delivery whereas a trip to the shop is achievable

in an hour or so.

Further, we have the mobile ‘phone, actually a pocket computer.

The worst anti-social contraption ever developed.

I recently travelled from Fishguard by train, (that’s another story of incompetence).

The four trains were full.

Throughout the five hours not a single word of conversation as everyone was playing with their digital toys.

So they have some uses but these are diminished by people’s use of them.

Prior to Christmas a thick head playing with his toy, walked into the road in front of my car.

Fortunately I managed to stop, gave a horn blast, his mini computer disappeared down a grid.

Pity he didn’t follow it!

It may well happen that the undertakers will adopt this mantle – press 1…press 2… press 3 to talk to the dead!

I often think that worldwide electricity breakdowns would be a good thing as in the film The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Lee Prescott

Stonehouse