The breadth of research these days is amazing, something that was brought home this week with the release of a new study on what makes people on hold hang up. The study found that 20 per cent of callers on hold will hang up after 20 seconds, with half abandoning their quest for information after 45 seconds.

And it seems that silence is more offputting than the endless loop of music, something that will come as cold comfort to all those people driven to distraction by endless renditions of Greensleeves. However, there is some consolation in the finding that inappropriate music can be even more off-putting than no music at all.

Still, it is difficult to know quite what to make of the hospital casualty unit that would entertain callers with Chopin's Funeral March or the outsize ladies' outfitter's regaling potential customers with that rollicking Queen number Fat-Bottomed Girls. One can only hope its attention to detail elsewhere in the business is somewhat better than it is in this department. Most insulting of all, maybe, was the mail order company looking to keep its callers happy with Blondie's Hanging on the Telephone.

Funny as it may sound, the survey probably is of use to the Irish call centre industry.

If the authors of the study wish, I and I am sure many others could give them a long list of companies that might benefit from reading it.