Clocks and Telephones

The two worst sounds in the modern world are ringing alarm clocks and ringing telephones. And yet, advertisers and directors seemingly believe those two noises to be irresistible to viewers. How else to account for the frequent appearance of the very loud, very insistent, buzzing alarm clock in television commercials? Now, if I had to pick a sound that puts me completely at ease, piques my curiosity, and disposes me favorably towards whatever's being offered for sale--and is worlds apart from whatever it is that starts me from bed every workday in a foaming terror and has me clawing at the nightstand in a frantic attempt to stop it stoP IT STOP IT!!!--then it's got to be a blaring alarm clock! I can't believe everybody's not using them to sell things!

And the telephone, the fucking telephone. Perhaps in the 1930s, when it was a novelty, the ringing telephone was a smashing way to build suspense. You know, because viewers were fascinated with the gizmos and would tolerate endless fucking ringing...see The 39 Steps, for example. But today, Jesus Christ! Can't you people think of anything less annoying than a telephone that nobody moves to answer?