Recently, we all received the latest of the of increasingly useless "phone books" that the phone company insists on publishing, despite the fact that many, many people never look stuff up in them, choosing to use the internet, instead. The bag of books sat unexamined on a chair in my dining room for at least a week before I finally decided to open it. And when I did, I was surprised... for there were three books.
I was expecting two: the White Pages and the Yellow Pages. But there was a third. No, it wasn't a competitor's book. It was the "Yellow Pages Companion."
What is a Yellow Pages Companion, you ask? Well, I've looked at it, and my answer is: Beats the shit out of me.
It's not so much a "companion" as it is "Yellow Pages Lite." It's shorter... a mere 800 pages instead of the 1200 or so for the "full" YP. And it's also smaller by a couple inches on each side. The typeface, however, is also smaller. Yes, it still has ads. Essentially, all I can tell is that it's the Yellow Pages, but with not quite so much stuff in it.
This, as with many things in our society, makes me just want to scream. What the fuck, people? This is a Yellow Pages for people who want less information than the full version? Gimme a break.
I, for one, look forward to the day when these behemoths are no longer printed. And that goes for the little "companion," too.
