I know, dear fellow boomers, you think she went away and would never come back. But AT&T is back, with a vengeance. Whether we were justified or not in our views, people my age remember this company as one of the most hated monopolies of our youth, right up there with IT&T, Dow Chemical, and Engulf & Devour.
:)
Our government supposedly broke up the nationwide Bell monopoly decades ago, but like pigweed, bad pennies, and that black-sheep cousin of yours, AT&T never really went away. It just went into hiding, like an evil spore.
When I moved back to California in 2000, after a brief respite in the Washington, D.C., area, the new baseball park was called PacBell, after the regional phone company. Now what is it called? "AT&T Park," and that sucks, big-time.
Might as well call it Ma Bell.
But that is not the point of this post. Somehow, when I moved into this flat in one of the dodgy corners of the Mission, the only land line supplier available was AT&T. So, I sucked up my ancient hatred, and signed up for the service.
Since then, the equally vile cable companies have moved in on Ma Bell's turf, so a while back I dumped Ma and switched to the same company that already deducts an arm and leg from me every month for my high speed Internet and cable TV access.
Would AT&T let me go? No way. Every day since, multiple times each day, my pathetic land line rings and the caller ID reveals that is is AT&T Customer Service calling to try and lure me back.
Tired of this monotony, I picked up one call one day after I was laid off and told the frightened sounding young woman on the other end of the line (no doubt in Bangalore) in no uncertain terms that I did not appreciate this harassment and would soon be alerting the authorities if it didn't cease!
Alas, it didn't cease. It continues to this very day. So I've just unplugged my phone. What good is a land line if it is unplugged? At least I don't need to hear those damned calls coming in, like clockwork, every other hour.
What the fuchs is wrong with these people?
That's not even the worst thing. The worst thing is that somehow in the exchange from one oligopoly to the other, my answering machine has gotten fuchsed up. As my 14-year-old and I discovered the other day, if you try to call me on that troubled line, you will get a message that says:
"If you wish to leave a message, call back later."
Think about that, will you? And get back to me, if you will. Just don't try the land line, you know, because it's unplugged.
-30-
2 comments:
An idea:
Everyone that uses a computer & internet, acquire a wireless router and let us all provide each other with wi-fi! Power in numbers...but my cynicism tells me someone would find a way to make money...after all MONEY IS GOD! (at least that is what our culture tells us)
David,
Save some meney. Dump the land line and get naked DSL. That's dsl without phone service. If you have a cable, you sould dump that is TV is a waste and unnecessary expense. Use your mobile phone for all calls.
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