PLA Issue #26: Information on a Few Phone-Type Offices

Piling up in a few of my notebooks is information on various phone company and
other offices around the U.S.A. that I’ve had reason to do research on in the
past (Usually the reason was that I didn’t have much anything better to do
with my time.), so I’m going to type up the information I have and turn it
into yet another PLA file that really has no use except to clutter up your
hard drive just a little bit more.

Portland, Oregon Directory Asisstance
735 SW Stark, Room 912
Portland, Oregon 972xx
(503)-242-5575 Office

This is one of the four offices that you reach when you dial 1-503-555-1212.
The other three offices are Canton, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio and Salem, Oregon.

Known Service Asisstants (Supervisors):
Carol, Nancy, Charmaine, Barb Walker (manager), Kitty Lund,
Diane Cordiar, Daffney Truats,

Known Operators:
Gail, Laura (Laurie) #2245, Lois #1061,

Office uses General Datacomm terminals. Dedicated keys include Air, Auto,
Bank, Hospital, Motel, Pac, School, COC (Chamber of Comerce?),

U.S. Sprint (LDUSA)
3rd & Johnson Commercial Court
Wynonna, Minnesota 55987
(507)-454-8386

This is an interesting one that I ran across while compiling PLA023.TXT.
Here’s what happens when you dial 10252-0:

1. The operator that answers will only identify herself as a “special billing
operator.” I guess that makes her feel important. She’ll be freaked out
that you’re calling her and she doesn’t have your information on her
screen. She won’t tell you where she’s calling from, but a few will hint
that they’re calling “from the mid-west.” I finally got one of them to
admit where they where calling from which is Wynonna, Minnesota by telling
them that I was their supervisor in Chicago. Even if you ask, “Hi, have I
reached the Wynonna, Minnesota office?” they usually won’t tell you. One
of them told me they were a “Hospitality Operator.”

2. They WILL place a call for you collect, third party (with verification),
or on a calling card. They won’t dial direct (free) or with your red box.
Usually, though, before they place the call they give you the third degree
asking you questions like: “Who are you?”, “Are you calling from a pay
fone?”, “What number did you dial to get me?”, “What number are you calling
from?” and a few other mundane questions. Whatever you do, don’t tell her
the access code you dialed to get her. This is interesting and we don’t
need them shutting it off.

3. She won’t complete a toll-free (800) call for anyone but three times now,
I’ve convinced her to anyways, saying that I was a GTE lineman. Each time
I had her call a different ANI number and each one came up with a number
in Los Angeles. One of them is 213-892-8743 which just rings and never
answers. The other one is 213-624-9126 which says, “This number is
disconnected…” And 213-892-8933. And 213-892-8996.

4. If you try to make a direct call (such as 10252-1-512-370-4680) you’ll get
a screwed up voice saying, “We’re sorry, the number that you are calling
from is not in service at this time. Call your carrier for asisstance…”

5. Most of the operators will claim that they have your number on their
screen but they’ll still ask you for your number and they won’t tell you
what your number is if you ask for it. Also, some operators admit that they
can’t see where you’re calling from so this leads me to believe that none
of them can. Except ONE operator so far knew which city and state I was
calling from. Most of them can’t even tell which state so I don’t know. If
they don’t know where I am, how do they know how much to bill me for a
long distance call? For all they know, I’m calling someone down the street.

Here’s a conversation I had with one of them today:

ME:: Dialing 10252-0…*ring* *ring*
HER: …Uh…Sprint, may I help you?
ME:: Hi, is this the Wynonna, Minnesota office?
HER: I can’t give you that information.
ME:: Well, you’re not in Los Angeles, are you?
HER: (Pauses to think…) No.
ME:: Well, I just wanted to ask you a question. How come when I have you dial
the ANI number, it gives me a number in the 213 area code and not there
in Minnesota?
HER: Do you work for us?
ME:: No, I work against you.
HER: Hold on just a second…(Gets her supervisor)
SUP: This is the supervisor, may I help you?
ME:: Yeah, how come when I dial ANI through you I get Los Angeles?
SUP: (Sounds pissed) Who are you??
ME:: Alex.
SUP: Well, who do you work for?
ME:: McDonald’s (No, I really don’t work there…Give me a break.)
SUP: McDonald who??
ME:: McDonald’s, the fast food joint, you know? Could you please tell me what
number you show that I’m calling from? What’s on your screen?
SUP: I’m not at liberty to give out that information.
ME:: Hmmmmm…Could you verify the number?
SUP: No, I can’t do that either, I’m sorry. What number did you dial to reach
this office?
ME:: I’m sorry, I’m not at liberty to give out that information.
SUP: Why not?
ME:: Well, I’ll make you a deal. You give me my phone number and I’ll give you
your phone number.
SUP: No, I can’t do that.
ME:: Please? I’ll box you a quarter…
SUP: (Laughs) No, what number are you calling from?
ME:: Well, we both obviously need information from each other so here’s what
we’re going to do: I’ll tell you my area code, YOU tell me my prefix,
I’ll tell you the first two numbers of my suffix and YOU tell me the
last two numbers. That sounds like a reasonable trade.

Well, that goes on and on. I spoke with this operator for 10-20 minutes and
it just goes downhill from there. I’ve also called them from home and
harrassed them to death.

Names of Supervisors:
Dan, Glinda, Steve, Sue,

Names of Operators:
Jenell, Cindy, Renae, Sarah, Dave, Pam, Jackie, Tonya,

“Is this a test call?”