Unless you are one of these “I don’t watch TV” people, you’ve probably seen the Citibank ad in which the poor guy is desperately trying not to reveal the name of his pet, or his equally embarrassing password, while riding on a crowded commuter train. After finally getting through to a real person, the train hits a tunnel and he loses the connection. In my own frustration with these IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems, I’ve found that it’s actually easier (and cheaper) to go to the nearest Sprint store in order to solve my problem. So much for the ease of global communications and instant customer service.

Enter gethuman ^[1], a community and growing database of tips and tricks so you can learn how to bypass all the crap and talk to a real person quickly. Started by Paul English ^[2] after a post on his blog landed him on the news and even an article in People magazine, the site claims to be “powered by over one million consumers.”

For you Citibank customers, press 0#0#0#0#0#0# (just one of 400+ entries in the database as of this post).