dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us (David Tamkin) (03/31/89)
I live in the small corner of the city of Chicago not served by Illinois
Bell. Our telco here (Central Telephone of Illinois) retains IBT for
directory assistance and operator services.
If I want to know where a prefix not listed in the directory's information
pages is located, the IBT operator I get by dialing 0 tells me to call IBT's
service office for business customers. Centel can provide some of the
information but not all; IBT can provide the rest (but sometimes not the
part Centel can give me).
Accordingly I did that on Tuesday to find out what areas some new prefixes
serve. The service representative at Illinois Bell started demanding my
name and my telephone number, and I said, "Nevermind! This is information
that should be in the phone book coming out this summer, or maybe last year
or two years ago since your list there is so far out of date, and your
office has procedures to treat me like a criminal for asking! I want to
have an idea of how much a call will cost before I place it, and you put me
through this grilling!"
I hung up and dialed IBT's headquarters to complain. Someone in the General
Manager's office told me that *because I was calling from a Centel prefix*
it could be that the representatives there are under instructions to find
out what is going on.
So, they have Caller ID, and I'm supposed to *know* that they will treat me
accordingly; they have Caller ID, but they ask for my phone number to see if
I'll lie (not to see if I'm calling from my own number, as I'll explain);
they have Caller ID, and they use it to predetermine how to treat the
caller. Yes, anyone dialing from a Centel phone gets the third-degree;
does anyone calling from a Chicago-Lawndale prefix get greeted in Spanish?
Does anyone calling from a Chicago-Kedzie or Chicago-Stewart prefix get
greeted in jive? Does someone calling from a Chicago-Merrimac prefix hear
"Hail Mary, mother of God! This is Illinois Bell, how may we help you?" on
the presumption that the caller must be Roman Catholic?
Because I was dialing from a Centel phone, the representative treated me
with suspicion. Of course, everyone there *knows* that no one *ever* calls
from a phone other than his or her own and no one *ever* calls on behalf of
someone else (like an employer who hires the caller to do that very thing).
No, the number from which the call is placed tells all. You can't fool a
service representative of Illinois Bell.
Friggin' incredible. Next time I want to reach them I'll perform a feat
they believe impossible: I'll cross the street I live on and enter Illinois
Bell's territory, where I'll call from a pay phone. Yes, they'll ID it as
such, but maybe I'll get someone with enough brainpower to understand my
protest that I don't spend my entire life at a single outdoor pay phone.
On the other hand, this is one more reason I'm glad to have Centel instead
of IBT. The service representatives there have always been aware that
people might be away from their own telephones when they call or when they
are to be called back.
David W. Tamkin Post Office Box 567542 Norridge, Illinois 60656-7542
dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us Jolnet Public Access Unix GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN
...!killer!jolnet!dattier Orland Park, Illinois CIS: 73720,1570
/\/\/\/\/\/\/
[Moderator's Note: What about Chicago-Rogers Park? "Oy Vey! This is Illinois
Bell!" And what about Chicago-Lakeview and Chicago-Edgewater? Would those
calls be automatically routed to one of those nice Young Men who work as
service reps under the assumption that they are of the same pursuasion as
the gentleman caller? Oh, I am getting in the mood for April Fool's Day! PT]