Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!bbn!mit-eddie!killer!vector!nobody From: cucstud!wb8foz@uunet.UU.NET (David Lesher) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Victims of Wrong Numbers Message-ID: Date: 25 Jan 89 00:55:37 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 40 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 29, message 2 The classic had to be Mike Royko, columnist for the [Chicago Tribune]. AT&T had new 800-xxxxxxx customer service number. Alas, Mike's home phone was 312-xxxxxxx. He wrote a nice piece about how he was going to tell all the people calling they didn't deserve service and he would see to it they were disconnected, and various other threats. Seems to me Ma ended up taking out an ad in his paper, next to his space to beg forgiveness. [Moderator's Note: Actually, it was his office telephone. The [Chicago Tribune] centrex is 312-222. His private number 312-222-3xxx was commonly dialed by people wanting AT&T at 1-800-222-3xxx. These were people who failed to dial the 1-800 first. AT&T frequently advertises in the Chicago papers, but their ad in this instance was to remind people to 'dial 1-800 first, when calling a toll-free number.' I think the easiest telephone number to remember in the world must be the Tribune classified ad-takers: 312-222-2222. P. Townson] ----------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jan 89 02:41:34 EST From: Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu Subject: One More Wrong Number Story Just one more wrong number victim story. My next-door neighbor in the dorm some years ago had a number that was exactly the same as the local power company except that he had a 4 where they had a 1, two digits that are right on top of each other on a TT pad. In the beginning of the year, he would just tell people that they had a wrong number, but as the year went on, he started being quite mischievous with callers who refused to admit to having dialed a wrong number. He would apologize, and ask them to describe their electricity problem. Billing inquiries he would refer to the proper number, but he came up with some incredibly bizarre responses to service/repair questions. I still feel sorry for the woman he told to unplug all her appliances and unscrew all of her lightbulbs and wait for the truck that would be there in "half hour to 45 minutes". Not such a good story in the retelling, I guess. Oh, well.