gls@odyssey.att.com (George L Sicherman) (03/03/91)
In <telecom11.160.11@eecs.nwu.edu>, Randy Borow writes: > From buses to trains to airports to flyers to radio and TV ads -- > you name it, they advertised it. Fairly well, I might ad [sic]. ... > ... The most frequent complaint about the area code split was: "Well, > nobody ever told ME about it!" > To which we all wanted so badly to respond: "Where the HELL have you > been -- in a cave or something ...?!?" ... Such arrogance reminds me of the vogon's response on the subject of demolishing Earth: "There's no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now." (Doug Adams, _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_) The authorities tend to assume that whenever and however they talk, people will listen. But to us who ignore TV, radio, newspaper and magazine ads, and billboards because practically everything they say is useless or deceiving, it's the others who are living in a cave -- the cave of the mass media, sometimes called the "Cave of the Winds." We're out here in the real world, enjoying the company and the scenery. The Moderator's advice to telephone companies is sound. Telling it to the public is _not_ the same as telling to people! For me, N.J. Bell's NOTICE insert in my phone bill worked fine. For others, the company had better be prepared to talk, voice to voice. G. L. Sichemman gls@odyssey.att.COM