cunningh@noscvax.UUCP (Robert P. Cunningham) (02/07/85)
[A true story about what happens when media hype goes a little
astray and dedicated fans to a tv program get ahold of the wrong
telephone number. There must be a moral in this somewhere.]
For the four months he'd been working for Hawaiian Telephone Company as
a directory assistance operator, Ray (not his real name) had been made
very aware of the 26-second guidline for answering an inquiry, and the
fact that the phone company timed each call he handled. Relegated to
the graveyard shift, nonetheless he was meeting the standard of
handling 900 to 1,000 calls per shift.
It was 2:30am -- the time when operators get a lot of calls from
drunks, cranks and perverts -- on January 29 when he took a
long-distance inquiry from two men on the line together asking for a
listing for "Magnum P.I.". Not a completely uncommon request for
Honolulu operators, and of course there is no such listing for the
mythical character in that TV show. Then the guys on the phone --
behaving like the Cheech & Chong comedy team -- kept dragging things on
by asking him to check a whole bunch of variations on "Magnum" and "Tom
Selleck" (Tom's real number is non-list/non-pub, and can't be be
accessed by the directory assistance operators).
Finally Ray became fed up. He recalled the number for the Honolulu
city morgue and gave it to them. A directory assistance operator gave
out a deliberate wrong number.
What he didn't know -- because they didn't bother to tell him between
cracking jokes at his expense -- was that the call was from two disc
jockies, Andy Moes and Joe Martel, and was being carried live over
Bostion radio station WROR. Andy and Joe -- as a gimmick -- were
promoting Tom Selleck's birthday, and told their listeners to call that
number and wish Tom a "happy birthday" ... repeatedly.
On the other side of downtown Honolulu from Ray's windowless cubicle
morgue attendent Joyce Fujimoto was having a quiet night. Until the
phone started ringing ... and the first of approximately 1,000 separate
callers asked to talk to "Tom Selleck".
Some callers became angry when they found out it was the morgue.
Others began crying, thinking Selleck was dead. Most just wouldn't
hang up. Some refused to believe they had gotten the wrong number and
accused Joyce of being a jealous girlfriend who wanted him all to
herself and wouldn't share him with anybody else. Some of the women
callers became hysterical.
Someone finally told Joyce about the WROR radio broadcast. She
immediately called both the FCC and WROR in Boston to complain.
The aftermath: Ray has been fired by the phone company. WROR is
offering to pay the cost of Boston listeners' long-distance calls --
and will take the money out of the pay checks of Andy and Joe. Joyce
and the other mortgage attendants still, however, get an occasional
call asking for "Tom".
--
Bob Cunningham
Honolulu: {dual|ihnp4|vortex}!islenet!bob
San Diego: sdcsvax!noscvax!cunningh
DDN: cunningh@nosc.ARPAmcal@ihuxb.UUCP (Mike Clifford) (02/09/85)
> [A true story about what happens when media hype goes a little > astray and dedicated fans to a tv program get ahold of the wrong > telephone number. There must be a moral in this somewhere.] > > > For the four months he'd been working for Hawaiian Telephone Company as > a directory assistance operator, Ray (not his real name) had been made > very aware of the 26-second guidline for answering an inquiry, and the > fact that the phone company timed each call he handled. Relegated to > the graveyard shift, nonetheless he was meeting the standard of > handling 900 to 1,000 calls per shift. > > It was 2:30am -- the time when operators get a lot of calls from > drunks, cranks and perverts -- on January 29 when he took a > long-distance inquiry from two men on the line together asking for a > listing for "Magnum P.I.". Not a completely uncommon request for > Honolulu operators, and of course there is no such listing for the > mythical character in that TV show. Then the guys on the phone -- > behaving like the Cheech & Chong comedy team -- kept dragging things on > by asking him to check a whole bunch of variations on "Magnum" and "Tom > Selleck" (Tom's real number is non-list/non-pub, and can't be be > accessed by the directory assistance operators). > > Finally Ray became fed up. He recalled the number for the Honolulu > city morgue and gave it to them. A directory assistance operator gave > out a deliberate wrong number. > > What he didn't know -- because they didn't bother to tell him between > cracking jokes at his expense -- was that the call was from two disc > jockies, Andy Moes and Joe Martel, and was being carried live over > Bostion radio station WROR. Andy and Joe -- as a gimmick -- were > promoting Tom Selleck's birthday, and told their listeners to call that > number and wish Tom a "happy birthday" ... repeatedly. > > On the other side of downtown Honolulu from Ray's windowless cubicle > morgue attendent Joyce Fujimoto was having a quiet night. Until the > phone started ringing ... and the first of approximately 1,000 separate > callers asked to talk to "Tom Selleck". > > Some callers became angry when they found out it was the morgue. > Others began crying, thinking Selleck was dead. Most just wouldn't > hang up. Some refused to believe they had gotten the wrong number and > accused Joyce of being a jealous girlfriend who wanted him all to > herself and wouldn't share him with anybody else. Some of the women > callers became hysterical. > > Someone finally told Joyce about the WROR radio broadcast. She > immediately called both the FCC and WROR in Boston to complain. > > The aftermath: Ray has been fired by the phone company. WROR is > offering to pay the cost of Boston listeners' long-distance calls -- > and will take the money out of the pay checks of Andy and Joe. Joyce > and the other mortgage attendants still, however, get an occasional > call asking for "Tom". > -- > Bob Cunningham > Honolulu: {dual|ihnp4|vortex}!islenet!bob > San Diego: sdcsvax!noscvax!cunningh > DDN: cunningh@nosc.ARPA In my opinion, Andy and Joe should not be receiving paychecks from WROR anymore...their irresponsible behavior is part of the reason why Ray lost his job. True, Ray shouln't have given out an intentional wrong number, but it sounds like the harassment that those two Boston jocks gave Ray was out of line. Andy and Joe should be fired from WROR. Mike Clifford