Any suggestions using the yellow pages would be highly appreciated. I never really got the hang of it. In fact, I used to be proudly ignorant of it, announcing to friends and family that I simply could not read the damn thing. This had the negative effect of making me never want to call the pizza place when friends would get together, which made me feel guilty enough that I would offer to pay more than an equal share when splitting the bill.
Now that google exists, I find that I really don’t need the phone book, but any useful tips would be appreciated.
The yellow pages are organized into categories- each section is a category someone would want to look up phone numbers for, mostly businesses selling similar products. For example: restaurants, plumbers, lawyers. The topics are organized alphabetically.
When you want to look up something specific, like places to order pizza, think of categories that might describe it. There might be a “Restaurants” category, but “pizza delivery” is popular enough that it may have its own section. Once you have a category in mind, find it by searching the book alphabetically; if you need more information about that, maybe gwern can help (see gwern’s comment).
Once you have found a relevant section of the yellow pages, you will see a list of names and phone numbers, as well as some paid advertisements, also with names and phone numbers. Every entry in the section is a member of the same category. Then pick one entry and call.
Note that all of the entries are paid advertisements; you pay extra for a big one or one that’s not part of the main alphabetical list. (I try to ignore the latter, although of course they are even bigger and easier to see, which is their reason for existence. The corresponding entry in the alphabetical list will still refer you to them if you want the additional information that they contain.)
Any suggestions using the yellow pages would be highly appreciated.
I haven’t used the yellow pages in years, but here goes:
They tend to be organized by what sort of business you’re looking for. So, “Pizza Delivery” might be a category, which should be in large, bold letters. The listings will have at least a phone number and location; look for places near your location. Call one.
Of course, the better solution these days is to open the Google Maps app on your smart phone, click ‘search’, type in ‘pizza’, click on one of the results, and click ‘call’.
I don’t know if this is true anymore, but the phonebook has several sections:
For a phone book in general:
At the front, is municipal stuff, like city maps and post office information.
Next is a section of ‘white pages’ where you can find residential home phone numbers listed alphabetically by last name. There are likely to be several people with the name you are looking for and it is socially acceptable to call asking, ‘Are you the A. Brown that went to Baker High school in 1995?’
Next are the yellow pages. Other commenters have described how that is organized, but I’ll add a couple tips. The alphabetical listings of business names under each category have to fit around paid advertisements, which significantly break up the flow of list. You can either just look at the paid advertisements (they are larger and with boxes and images) or be sure to check for your alphabetized list continuing on both sides of the ads.
Also, it is often difficult to guess the right category. (Will pizza go under ‘pizza delivery’, ‘restaurants’ or ‘Italian Food’?) You simply have to hunt around. Often, the wrong category will have a tip like, ‘See X’ if you looked under Y.
The three sections that you describe don’t always go in that order, and they may also be separated into different volumes.
Also, the white pages should include both residential and business listings, although sometimes these also are separated from each other. The businesses here are strictly by name, not by category like in the yellow pages (and the listings are either cheaper or free).
Any suggestions using the yellow pages would be highly appreciated. I never really got the hang of it. In fact, I used to be proudly ignorant of it, announcing to friends and family that I simply could not read the damn thing. This had the negative effect of making me never want to call the pizza place when friends would get together, which made me feel guilty enough that I would offer to pay more than an equal share when splitting the bill. Now that google exists, I find that I really don’t need the phone book, but any useful tips would be appreciated.
The yellow pages are organized into categories- each section is a category someone would want to look up phone numbers for, mostly businesses selling similar products. For example: restaurants, plumbers, lawyers. The topics are organized alphabetically.
When you want to look up something specific, like places to order pizza, think of categories that might describe it. There might be a “Restaurants” category, but “pizza delivery” is popular enough that it may have its own section. Once you have a category in mind, find it by searching the book alphabetically; if you need more information about that, maybe gwern can help (see gwern’s comment).
Once you have found a relevant section of the yellow pages, you will see a list of names and phone numbers, as well as some paid advertisements, also with names and phone numbers. Every entry in the section is a member of the same category. Then pick one entry and call.
Note that all of the entries are paid advertisements; you pay extra for a big one or one that’s not part of the main alphabetical list. (I try to ignore the latter, although of course they are even bigger and easier to see, which is their reason for existence. The corresponding entry in the alphabetical list will still refer you to them if you want the additional information that they contain.)
I haven’t used the yellow pages in years, but here goes:
They tend to be organized by what sort of business you’re looking for. So, “Pizza Delivery” might be a category, which should be in large, bold letters. The listings will have at least a phone number and location; look for places near your location. Call one.
Of course, the better solution these days is to open the Google Maps app on your smart phone, click ‘search’, type in ‘pizza’, click on one of the results, and click ‘call’.
I don’t know if this is true anymore, but the phonebook has several sections:
For a phone book in general:
At the front, is municipal stuff, like city maps and post office information.
Next is a section of ‘white pages’ where you can find residential home phone numbers listed alphabetically by last name. There are likely to be several people with the name you are looking for and it is socially acceptable to call asking, ‘Are you the A. Brown that went to Baker High school in 1995?’
Next are the yellow pages. Other commenters have described how that is organized, but I’ll add a couple tips. The alphabetical listings of business names under each category have to fit around paid advertisements, which significantly break up the flow of list. You can either just look at the paid advertisements (they are larger and with boxes and images) or be sure to check for your alphabetized list continuing on both sides of the ads.
Also, it is often difficult to guess the right category. (Will pizza go under ‘pizza delivery’, ‘restaurants’ or ‘Italian Food’?) You simply have to hunt around. Often, the wrong category will have a tip like, ‘See X’ if you looked under Y.
The three sections that you describe don’t always go in that order, and they may also be separated into different volumes.
Also, the white pages should include both residential and business listings, although sometimes these also are separated from each other. The businesses here are strictly by name, not by category like in the yellow pages (and the listings are either cheaper or free).