[265] in Humor
HUMOR: (Please Don't) Call 1-800-I-CANT-SPEL
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (abennett@MIT.EDU)
Fri May 13 13:47:58 1994
From: abennett@MIT.EDU
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 13 May 94 13:45:32 EDT
Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 16:36:38 -0600
From: Espacionaute Spiff domine! <matossian@aludra.colorado.edu>
...
Forwarded-by: booloo@llnl.gov (Mark Boolootian)
Carriers battling for business in the wake of the move to 800-number
portability last year did not take into consideration the poor spelling
skills of many Americans, according to a software engineer at MCI
Communications Corp. When AT&T countered MCI's 1-800-COLLECT, which
bypasses local operators for long-distance toll-free collect service
with its own 1-800-OPERATOR program earlier this year, it probably did
not anticipate callers sloppily dialing 1-800-OPERATER - an MCI 800
number. According to the MCI engineer, MCI swept up about $500,000 in
mistaken calls in the first month of AT&T's program. AT&T now markets
the service by asking customers to call 1-800-CALL-ATT.
- Network World, May, 9, 1994
