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== Press 1 for Comics -- Books ==
* When ''[[Too Much Coffee Man (Comic Book)|Too Much Coffee Man]]'' travels to the future, he discovers that trials are now conducted through Interactive Voice Responders
{{quote| "For a plea of innocence, press one. For a plea of guilty, press two."<br />
>1<<br />
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== Press 3 for Fan Works ==
* The ''[[Good Omens (Literature)|Good Omens]]'' [[Fanfic]] ''Great are the Myths'' puts a case of this in [[Heaven]]'s waiting room when the demon Crowley pays a visit:
{{quote| "... Konnichiwa. Bonjour."<br />
In the corridors of Heaven, Crowley stared. "Bloody hell," he muttered, "I thought ''we'' came up with this."<br />
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== Press 5 for Literature ==
* In [[Christopher Moore]]'s ''[[Bloodsucking Fiends (Literature)|Bloodsucking Fiends]]'' Jody gets one of these after she gets attacked by a [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]] and tries to contact the police.
* The ''[[Bastard Operator From Hell]]'' seems to have some experience ''making'' these. He and the PFY have discussed making recursive ones in at least one story.
 
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== Press 6 for Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Fonejacker]]'': "Hello and welcome to the Flat Line. Is it a...HOUSE or a...FLAT you are interested in?"
* One particularly funny episode of ''[[Married... Withwith Children (TV)|Married With Children]]'' subjected Al Bundy to this trope when he called an auto parts dealer to find an alternator for the Dodge. As just one example of what he had to sit through, after '''six hours''' on the phone:
{{quote| "If your car is a Pacer, press 61. If your car is a Studebaker, press 62. If your car is a Hudson Hornet, press 63..."}}
:: About halfway through the call, the automated voice chirpily greets Al by name, as it's apparently asked so many questions about his car that it's now narrowed the potential callers down to ''just him''.<br />And then to make matters worse, when Al finally got through to a live operator, he had to go get his credit card... [[Downer Ending|and Kelly comes in and hangs up the phone while he's away, forcing him to start all over again.]] Is it any wonder Al dies of bleeding stomach ulcers by the time he's sixty?
** Since the rest of the episode was a Field of Dreams parody, the episode ends with the line: "If you build it they will come. If you want them to build it for you Press 1 now."
* One ''[[Frasier (TV)|Frasier]]'' episode has a frustrated Martin attempt to navigate one of these, made even worse by the fact that the options were voice-activated ("PER-SON-AL."). Frasier attempts to enter a code that he heard will get you straight to an operator. It doesn't succeed, but he does manage to qualify for a small-business loan. If he's remembering his high-school Spanish correctly.
* In ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'', the Wolfram and Hart intercom seems to frequently misdirect people. Given that the options on their tree range from "I need [[Amoral Attorney|legal representation]]" to "I'd like to [[Human Sacrifice|sacrifice]] my first-born son to a demon," this has caused some uncomfortable moments.
{{quote| ''"You have reached ritual sacrifice. For goats, press one, or say 'goats.'"''<br />
''"To sacrifice a loved one or pet, press the pound button."'' }}
* One episode of ''[[The Nanny]]'' has Fran calling the NYPD to try to report a lost child. The first menu she gets says, "To report a murder, press 1. For mugging, press 2. For bomb threats below 34th Street, press 3. 34th Street to 72nd, press 4."
* On an episode of ''[[Seinfeld (TV)|Seinfeld]]'', George calls a number thinking it's the Mr. Moviefone directory, but really it's just Kramer imitating the voice. After George pushes some buttons to select a movie, Kramer realizes that he has no idea what it is and just replies (in Moviefone voice), "Why don't you just ''tell'' me the name of the movie you want to see!" At the end of the episode, the Moviefone guy [[Crowning Moment of Funny|arrives to take revenge for the stolen business]].
* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'':
** The story ''The Invasion'' has the Second Doctor have to do with an automated receptionist and not enjoy it. Which Zoe later drops a [[Logic Bomb]] on.
** Happens again in "Planet of the Dead". The Doctor calls Unit for assistance and get stuck in this. One of the people trapped in the bus tells the doctor that he can get to a live person by holding 2 when he calls.
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== Press "Start" for Video Games ==
* A puzzle in ''[[Zork: Grand Inquisitor]]'' involves figuring out the automated service on the "Hades Shuttle Courtesy Phone" to summon Charon's boat, which features instructions like "To press 3, please press 7". One can figure out how to navigate it normally (which takes a while), or {{spoiler|use the Simplify Instructions spell "Kendall"}}.
{{quote| "Press the * Key for 'What is all this? I just want to call the damn shuttle. Is that so much to ask?'"}}
:: There's even a key you can press to make the entire instruction list be [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|recited backwards.]] ''And it '''works.''' '' Subtitles and all. (Talk about a Crowning Moment of What the Hell... literally.)
* A puzzle in ''[[Syberia (Video Game)|Syberia]]'' involves using a canal mechanism to allow a boat to tow the spring-loaded train to the winding mechanism. Unfortunately, it requires a numeric password and the only apparent help is a phone that leads to one of these...that serves as no help whatsoever. Apparently the only way to find the code is to effectively try all combinations until the right one appears (the code is only 2 digits so it doesn't take TOO long. Not to mention it turns out to be {{spoiler|[[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy|42]]}}).
* ''[[Homestar Runner|Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People]]''
** In ''Episode One'', attempting to call Bubs using Homestar's phone results in a phone tree. Strong Bad quickly hangs up because "You can't prank a phone tree. Besides, the last time I navigated Bubs' [[Tele Stand]], I wound up with a crate full of rhino horns... and not even the endangered kind!"
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{{quote| "SAY ONE, TWO OR THREE!"}}
* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank|Ratchet & Clank Future]]'', Ratchet attempts to gain entrance to Captain Qwark's HQ while being pursued by robots intent on destroying him, ultimately failing due to the intercom in the main entrance having one of these.
* Bob Bell from the ''[[The Adventures of Sam and& Max: Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' games by [[Telltale Games]] talks like this at times, being a sentient telephone who talks like a smarmy phone-tree announcer.
* In ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]'' 2, you can use the phone not only to increase or decrease your infamy, but to simply prank call the police.
* [[Portal (Video Gameseries)|''If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy, or require a Spanish version of this message, feel free to take a complimentary piece of stationary, and write us a letter.'']]
 
 
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== Press 11 for Web Comics ==
* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' gives us the [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0007.html ThorPrayer© system]. Which is later discontinued due to "[[Continuity Nod|too many people getting colon tumors by mistake]]".
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'' has this happen [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20030406.html during a riot].
* Inverted in [http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=141 this installment] of ''[[Casey and Andy (Webcomic)|Casey and Andy]]'', where the automated menu gives them the exact information they need. "If you're calling about the mortalization of Satan, press 3." Then again, what else would you expect from ''[[The Ace|Quantum Cop's]]'' phone?
* [http://nobodyscores.loosenutstudio.com/index.php?id=393 This strip] from ''[[Nobody Scores]]!'' mixes this with a nice quantum science in-joke (Schrodinger's Cat).
* ''[http://fulltimeink.com/archives/8076 Phil Likes Tacos]'' subverted this with "Multitask phone detected. Transferring call immediately."
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* ''[[Taz-Mania]]'': Taz tries calling a hotline for help how to catch the Kiwi bird and ends up navigating an endless process in which every dead end leads to him getting a mallet to the head.
* ''[[South Park]]'': Kenny dying (as usual) and being embalmed with Worcester sauce in a freak accident creates a [[Zombie Apocalypse]]. When the boys call the helpline on the sauce bottle, the third option is "If your town is being overrun by zombies..."
* Happened on ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'', where Spongebob and Squidward thought the town was being overrun by robots. Spongebob tries to call the Navy for help, triggering the following dialogue:
{{quote| '''Voice Message:''' Hello! You have reached the Navy's ''automated'' voice messaging system.<br />
'''SpongeBob:''' Squidward, the robots have taken over the navy!<br />
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{{quote| '''Automated answering service:''' To order a computer, press 1. If you can't press 1 because you're still using one of those old rotary phones... [[Strange Minds Think Alike|you're a dweeb]].}}
* In the ''[[Rugrats]]'' episode "Naked Tommy", Didi tried to call Lipschitz's hotline for advice on how to deal with Tommy running around nude only to have her wait until "press 9" which only gave her a recorded message what has already been written on his books and charged Didi for every minute she waited on his hotline.
* In an episode of ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Animation)|Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', Carl loses both of his arms, and attempts to call the hospital using only his tongue. The automated message refers him to a ridiculously long number.
* ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'', "An Elephant Never Forgets". A man is confronted by Burt the elephant and calls Animal Control:
{{quote| '''Voice:''' You have reached the Animal Control Hotline. If you know the name of the animal trying to eat you, please say it now.<br />
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{{quote| '''Man:''' Now it's penguins?<br />
'''Voice:''' You said Peruvian milk snake. }}
* On ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'', Roger and Steve call a company to complain about a shoddy novelty product they bought. They are left on hold for what is implied to be days when they finally reach voice mail. But when Steve asks for billing, the machine reroutes them to Barbara Billingsley (of [[Leave It to Beaver|June Cleaver]] and [[Airplane!|Jive-talking Lady]] fame).
 
 
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