So far no one has even asked me to endorse a toilet paper brand, although I think my many years of experience in that field should be recognized, and God knows I could use a comped roll or two. That said, there is a tendency in modern corporate management to remove as much as possible the ability of anyone outside the organization to communicate with anyone inside it. Nothing is as valuable as the time of an employee freed from the onerous obligation of communication with people who simply do not matter.

The first line of defense i. e. the telephone answering machine is becoming a bit of a dinosaur. A device that provided the ability (real or imagined) to leave a recording of your mewling calls for assistance in an endless queue of inconsequential nonentities hungrily suckling on the corporate teat with no intention of remunerating the hapless human who may one day listen to their recorded cries before deleting them, has become so commonplace as to be just banal. Hell, even I have one, and the time I have saved by not answering my telephone has given me countless hours to engage in posts to this forum that I assume receive the same level of attention from the readers.

The endless maze of press 1 to place an order, press 2 to talk to customer service press...press 999 to connect to the CEO's personal cell phone etc., have been replaced with programs that will only accept spoken replies, but recognize only a heavily Estonian accented form of English, thus locking the caller into an endless loop of I did not understand you, please say again.

It would seem that the OP had at one time an actual phone number to reach a significant human being, and it (or the human being it represented) has been purged from the corporate system. The rest of us should only envy his good fortune, for most of us have never had such godlike access. Like true love, the loss of a personal extension is a life-changing experience. It is easy in such a case to sublimate loss into bitterness, and rail against the cold reflection of his attempts to communicate.

But rather than cast blame upon the corporate nature that has spurned him, he should appreciate the transcendent beauty of  a corporate culture that is rising above the burdens of responding to the ordinary human being; a sublime and efficient state where artists are treated like customers and customers are entrained into endless, meaningless, and, yes beautiful labyrinths or longing to touch the ineffable heart of the commercial creature. That is after all the nature of art in the modern world.

I've only heard Jimmy Landry's name twice before, and both times is was followed by "who used to work at Capitol Records", as if it were part of his name or an honorary title, e.g. "Jimmy Landry, DTE, ASPCA, DOT, UTWACC". Both times, I thought "weird, they actually think that's a positive thing to list on his resume". Like an A&R gig is anything at all like working in Marketing. For one thing, unlike a record-company functionary, in Marketing you're actually obligated to return people's calls.

Jimmy obviously thinks his previous job will impress people. He even included it on your answering machine. I guess that makes three references now.

But though I truly empathize with your anger at being treated rudely, I have to say that you're out of line dismissing Beagle and yorolpal's comments. You posted here for no other purpose than to embarrass Cakewalk - what possible alternate motive could you have? And I have no problem with that! I'd be tempted to do the same. But in doing so you made it a public conversation, you invited comment, and then proceeded to slap down serious commentators who are also valued contributors to this forum. Bad move if you're lobbying for popular support for your cause.