Time is money. Marque dos.

We all dread those times when we have to call customer service at an airline or a department store or utility service. The "toll-free" part doesn't really mean anything anymore since we all mostly use cell phones with free long distance, and land lines have followed suit so 1-800 might as well be 1-252 or 1-301 or 1-787 for all I care.
And there's always a wait. They play corny music that somehow makes you hum along, and repeatedly play that woman's voice encouraging you to visit them on the web -- when it's pretty obvious that you are calling for a specific matter that can't easily be solved by reading the FAQ. (Wow, I'm getting a bit passionate over here. Just've had my share of customer service woes) A-hem.

My point is, when you call these 800 numbers, you normally hear that woman say "for English, press one. Para Español, marque dos." My Español is rusty, so I would usually press one. But after being on hold for over 20 daytime minutes while trying to reach a certain airline representative, I decided to try something new. I Marque dos -ed.

And instantly -- no elevator music, no annoying voice recording, no wait at all -- I got through to a human being who could help me. I figured, this person probably also speaks English, even if it is their second language. And as popular as outsourcing has become for American companies, it's highly likely that the person I pressed one for - and waited 20 daytime minutes for, is likely to also speak English as a second language.

So I encourage you all to Marque Dos, no matter how well or not well your Español. It'll save your precious daytime minutes so you can instead call a friend and start planning your spring vacation.