When the internet works

I don't think I need to tell you ways in which the internet has failed us. We've all got stories, whether it's the crappy medical advice that made your boil worse, or the YouTube comment thread on a 4-year-old's birthday party video that has somehow degraded into a back-and-forth about Hitler.

But for all its hoo-ha and whatnot, the internet occasionally provides something of such great value that it makes me smile (only momentarily, though – you don't want people in the office thinking you're enjoying yourself). Case in point:

I have these pants. Dress pants. The hem had come undone on the right leg (perhaps the left, but that really doesn't matter). While they were not expensive pants, they were neither cheap, and I felt I had not obtained maximum value from them. So I thought I'd take them to a tailor. Trouble is, it's not 1950 and I have no idea where to find a respectable tailor.

So I hop on yelp.com and lo and behold, there's a tailor in Palo Alto who's received rave reviews.

When I made my way there, I was surprised by the nondescript business, one of a million that I would otherwise never have wandered into of my own volition. I went in, presented the pants, expecting a "This'll be a week," but instead the tailor asked, "Can you wait five minutes?" Sure.

Four minutes and $5 later, I hopped in my car with a pair of nicely hemmed pants and an honest-to-goodness smile on my face. This, friends, is when the internet gets it done.