Sneak has seen many articles about the so-called "Generation Y" of young adults now entering the workplace, mainly lecturing businesses that they had better be ready for this tech-savvy lot who have grown up with the internet, text messaging, and Facebook. Sneak's advice, however, is this; don't hire them for customer-facing roles, as many seem to have the social skills of a Klingon.

As an example, one of Sneak's colleagues was recently on the receiving end of a call from a youth working for cable operator Virgin Media.

"Did you know you can save money on your bill if you have broadband as well as TV and phone?" he asked.

Sneak's colleague responded that he already had broadband.

"Ah, but is it Virgin Broadband?" the youth asked, to which the reply was "yes".

"Errm, ahh, I see," the youth said, whereupon the line promptly went dead.

Sneak has hung up on annoying cold callers himself many times in the past, but this is the first time he's heard of companies doing it to their own customers.