# Your earliest memory of "Press 1 for...." **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183 "2011-09-13T18:29:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/1 "2011-09-13T18:29:28Z")
Do you remember when companies started using automated call routers when you call Customer Service? Do you remember the first time you encountered it? I was really wondering what was the first company to use it. I am thinking it was a company with a huge number of customers, like a phone company, but I doubt there was a single “first company” that we could identify. This question is probably for older people; anyone under 25 probably grew up with it. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/2 "2011-09-13T18:43:02Z")
Whoever it was, I’m sure it started off with “please listen carefully as our options have recently changed” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/3 "2011-09-13T19:08:43Z")
I don’t remember. It was probably in the early 80s, and I still had a rotary phone. I do remember a few systems that would tell you that you made an invalid choice – and then hang up on you. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/4 "2011-09-13T19:10:12Z")
🙂 And it wasn’t long after that they added, “Your call is important to us.” I still talk back to the recording when it tells me that. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/5 "2011-09-13T19:20:02Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > 🙂 And it wasn’t long after that they added, “Your call is important to us.” I still talk back to the recording when it tells me that. _Que tinny music_ ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/6 "2011-09-13T19:29:00Z")
The lady who used to do those phone trees for Southern Bell (back before it was Bell South) had a speech impediment related to liquid consonants, resulting in it sounding like she was saying “Thank you for calling Southern Beu.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/7 "2011-09-13T19:32:28Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > _Que tinny music_ I’ve come to loathe Mozart. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/8 "2011-09-13T20:19:42Z")
I do remember the first time it absolutely enraged me…in 1991. I needed to pay my bill with Qwest (Qworst!). The recording informed me that there were no humans available outside normal business hours. It then presented a number of options, including the option to pay my bill over the phone via credit card and automated system. It then guided me as I punched in my phone number (again), CC number, expiration dated, and zip code for verification. ONLY THEN was I informed that the TOTALLY AUTOMATED payment system could not accept any payments outside normal business hours. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/9 "2011-09-13T22:43:13Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > This question is probably for older people; anyone under 25 probably grew up with it. You aim too low. I’m nine years older than that, and it’s always been a part of the phone experience as far as I recall. Sure, they did away with the “if you’re calling from a rotary phone” part when I was old enough to notice, but not until after press-# was well established. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/10 "2011-09-13T22:56:04Z")
Maybe by the mid 80’s when I was doing a job search. What I found even more shocking was showing up a the world headquarter of a large company and finding the receptionist replaced with a phone and a directory. Frankly, I have never found them a problem. OTOH, I would have no problem killing anybody given a chance, that had anything to do with setting up the voice non recognition systen at SS and Medicare. Their websites suck too. I have a problem, I go to straight to my congressman’s office. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/11 "2011-09-14T02:42:46Z")
I don’t remember the first time, but I remember one time in the early 80’s when I was trying to get hold of someone at a local office. I called the local office and got a recording to call the main office. I called the main office and got a recording to dial the extension directly. I didn’t know the extension and it didn’t offer a directory or a dial 0 option. I called someone at another office and begged them to give me the extension of the person I was actually looking for. No, they couldn’t transfer the call, but out of human kindness they did give me the person’s extension. I called the main office, dialed the person’s extension and got transfered to voice mail. After listening to the pre-recorded announcement to leave a message, a second recording said “Voice mailbox is full.” Click. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-earliest-memory-of-press-1-for/596183/12 "2011-09-16T22:42:07Z")
The first touch-tone robotic system I dealt with on a regular basis was my bank’s bill paying system. This was in the mid 1980s, well before nearly everyone had computers. It worked pretty well, aside from the fact that once I punched in an extra digit and ended up paying $600 to my phone company. Fortunately, at the time, it didn’t create an immediate hardship so I just let it ride and didn’t have to pay my phone bill for a long time.