346 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
346 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
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Founded By: | _ _______
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Guardian Of Time | __ N.I.A. _ ___ ___ Are you on any WAN? are
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Judge Dredd | ____ ___ ___ ___ ___ you on Bitnet, Internet
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------------------+ _____ ___ ___ ___ ___ Compuserve, MCI Mail,
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Ø / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___________ Sprintmail, Applelink,
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+---------+ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___________ Easynet, MilNet,
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| 30OCT90 | ___ ______ ___ ___ ___ FidoNet, et al.?
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| File 64 | ___ _____ ___ ___ ___ If so please drop us a
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+---------+ ____ _ __ ___ line at
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___ _ ___ elisem@nuchat.sccsi.com
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Other World BBS __
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Text Only _ Network Information Access
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Ignorance, There's No Excuse.
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PTs Experience w/CLASS
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by Judge Dredd
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For several months now, Illinois Bell has been hawking CLASS.
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Brochures in the mail with our bills and newspaper advertisements have
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told us about the wonderful new services soon to be offered.
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It was just a question, they said, of waiting until your central
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office had been converted. The new features being offered here are:
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*66 Auto Call Back: Call back the last number which called you. No
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need to know the number.
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*69 Repeat Dial: If the number you dialed was busy, punching
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this will keep trying the number for up to
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30 minutes, and advise you when it can connect.
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*60 Call Screening Enter:
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# plus number to be screened out plus #
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* plus number to be re-admitted plus *
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# plus 01 plus # to add the number of the
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last call you received, wheth or not
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you know the number.
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1 To play a list of the numbers being screened.
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0 For a helpful recording of options, etc.
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Distinctive Ringing Up to ten numbers can be programmed in. When a
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call is received from one of these numbers, your
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phone will give a special ring to advise you.
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Multi-Ring Service Two additional numbers can be associated with
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your number. When someone dials one of these
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two numbers, your phone will give a special ring.
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With both Distinctive Ringing and Multi-Ring Service, if you have Call
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Waiting, the Call Waiting tones will be different from the norm also,
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so that you can tell what is happening. With Multi-Ring Service, you
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can have it programmed so the supplementary numbers associated with
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your main number are forwarded when it is forwarded, or do not observe
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forwarding, and 'ring through' despite what the main number is doing.
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Alternate Answer Can be programmed so that after 3-7 rings,
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the unanswered call will be automatically sent
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to another line *WITHIN YOUR CENTRAL OFFICE*.
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If the number assigned as an alternate is
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itself busy or forwarded OUTSIDE YOUR OFFICE
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then Alternate Answer will not forward the
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call and continue to ring unanswered.
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Transfer on Busy/ This is just another name for 'hunt'. The
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No Answer difference is that hunt is free; Transfer on
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Busy/NA costs a couple bucks per month. Like
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Alternate Answer, it must forward only to a
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number on the same switch. Unlike hunt, it
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will work on NA as well. Unlike Alternate
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Answer, it works on busy as well.
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Caller*ID will be available 'eventually' they say.
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Now my story begins:
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From early this summer to the present, I've waited patiently for
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CLASS to be available in Chicago-Rogers Park. Finally a date was
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announced: October 15 the above features would be available. In
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mid-September, I spoke with a rep in the Irving-Kildare Business
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Office. She assured me *all* the above features would be available on
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October 15. My bill is cut on the 13th of each month, and knowing the
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nightmare of reading a bill which has d changes made in mid-month
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(page after page of pro-rata entries for credits on the old service,
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item by item; pro-rata entries for the new service going in, etc) it
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made sense to implement changes on the billing date, to keep the
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statement simple.
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She couldn't write the order for the service to start October 13,
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since CLASS was not officially available until the fifteenth. Well,
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okay, so its either wait until November 13 or go ahead and start in
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mid-month, worrying about reading the bill once it actually arrives.
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I've been ambivilent about CLASS since it is not com ble with my
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present service 'Starl e', but after much thought -- and since all
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installation and order-writing on Custom Calling features is free now
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through December 31! -- I decided to try out the new stuff.
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She took the order Wednesday afternoon and quoted 'sometime Thursday'
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for the work to be done. In fact it was done -- or mostly done -- by
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mid-afternoon Thursday. But I should have known better. I should have
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remembered my experience with Starline three years ago, when it took a
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technician in the central office *one week* to get it all in and
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working correctly. Still, I took IBT's word for it.
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I got home about 5:30 PM Thursday. *You know* I sat down right away at
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the phone to begin testing the new features! :) The lines were to be
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equipped as follows:
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Line 1: Call WaitingLine 2: Call Forwarding
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Three Way Calling Speed Dial 8
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Call Forwarding Busy Repeat Dialing *69
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Speed Dial 8
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Auto Call Back *66 (second line used mostly by modem;
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Busy Repeat Dialing *69 so Call Waiting undesirable)
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Call Screening *60
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Alternate Answer (supposed to be programmed to Voice Mail;
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another CO; another area code [708];
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even another telco [Centel]).
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Busy Repeat Dialing did not work on the second line (not installed)
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and Alternate Answer worked (but not as I understood it would) on the
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first line. Plus, I had forgotten how to add 'last call received' to
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the screening feature.
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It is 5:45 ... business office open another fifteen minutes ... good!
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I call 1-800-244-4444 which is IBT's idea of a new way to handle calls
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to the business office. Everyone in the state of Illinois calls it,
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and the calls go wherever someone is free. Before, we could call the
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business office in our neighborhood direct ... no longer.
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I call; I go on hold; I wait on hold five minutes. Finally a rep comes
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on the line, a young fellow who probably Meant Well ...
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After getting the preliminary information to look up my account, we
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begin our conversation:
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Me: You see from the order the new features put on today?
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Him: Yes, which ones are you asking about?
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Me: A couple questions. Explain how to add the last call received to
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your call screening.
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Him: Call screening? Well, that's not available in your area yet. You
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see, it will be a few months before we offer it.
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Me: Wait a minute! It was quoted to me two days ago, and it is on
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the order you are reading now is it not?
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[I read him the order number to confirm we had the same one.]
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Him: Yes, it is on here, but it won't work. No matter what was written
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up. Really, I have to apologize for whoever would have taken your
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order and written it there.
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Me: Hold on, hold on! It *is* installed, and it *is* working! I want
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to know how to work it.
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Him: No it is not installed. The only features we can offer you at
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at this time are Busy Redial and Auto Callback. Would you like me
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to put in an order for those?
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Me: Let's talk to the supervisor instead.
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Him: (in a huff) Gladly sir.
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Supervisor comes on line and repeats what was said by the rep: Call
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Screening is not available at this time in Chicago-Rogers Park.
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At this point I am furious ...
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Me: Let me speak to the rep who took this order (I quoted her by
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name.)
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Supervisor: I never heard of her. She might be in some other office.
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Me: (suspicious) Say, is this Irving-Kildare?
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Supervisor: No! Of course not! I am in Springfield, IL.
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Me: Suppose you give me the name of the manager at Irving-Kildare
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then, and I will call there tomorrow. (By now it was 6 PM; the
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supervisor was getting figity and nervous wanting to go home.)
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Supervisor: Here! Call this number tomorrow and ask for the manager of
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that office, 1-800-244-4444.
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Me: Baloney! Give me the manager's direct number!
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Supervisor: Well okay, 312-xxx-xxxx, and ask for Ms. XXXX.
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Me: (suspicious again) She is the manager there?
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Supervisor: Yes, she will get you straightened out. Goodbye!
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Comes Friday morning, I am on the phone a few minutes before 9 AM, at
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the suggested direct number. Ms. XXXX reviewed the entire order and
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got the Busy Repeat Dial feature added to line two ... but she
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insisted the original rep was 'wrong for telling you call screening
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was available ..' and the obligatory apology for 'one of my people who
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mislead you'. I patiently explained to her also that in fact call
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screening was installed and was working.
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Manager: Oh really? Are you sure?
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Me: I am positive. Would you do me a favor? Call the foreman and have
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him call me back.
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Manager: Well, someone will call you later.
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Later that day, a rep called to say that yes indeed, I was correct. It
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seems they had not been told call screening was now available in my
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office. I told her that was odd, considering the rep who first took
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the order knew all about it.
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I asked when the Alternate Answer 'would be fixed' (bear in mind I
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thought it would work outside the CO, which it would not, which is
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why it kept ringing through to me instead of forwarding.)
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She thought maybe the foreman could figure that out.
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Maybe an hour later, a techician did call me to say he was rather
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surprised that call screening was working on my line. He gave a
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complete and concise explanation of how Alternate Answer and Transfer
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on Busy/No Answer was to work. He offered to have it removed from my
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line since it would be of no value to me as configured.
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One question he could not answer: How do you add the last call
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received to call screening? He could find the answer nowhere, but
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said he would see to it I got 'the instruction booklet' in the mail
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soon, so maybe I could figure it out myself.
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I got busy with other things, and put the question aside ... until
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early Saturday morning when I got one of my periodic crank calls from
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the same number which has plagued me for a couple months now with
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ring, then hangup calls on an irregular basis.
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For the fun of it, I punched *69, and told the sassy little girl who
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answered the phone to quit fooling around. She was, to say the least,
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d and startled by my call back. I don't think I will hear from
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her again. :)
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But I decided to ask again how to add such a number to call screening,
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so I called Repair Service.
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The Repair Service clerk pulled me up on the tube *including the work
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order from two days earlier* and like everyone else said:
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Repair: You don't have Call Screening on your line. That is not
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available yet in your area. We are adding new offices daily,
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blah, blah.
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I *couldn't believe* what I was hearing ... I told her I did, and she
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insisted I did not ... despite the order, despite what the computer
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said. Finally t was on to her supervisor, but as it turned out, her
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supervisor was the foreman on duty for the weekend. Like the others
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he began with apologies for how I 'had been misinformed' ... no call
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screening was available.
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Me: Tell ya what. You say no, and I say yes. You're on the test
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board, no? I'll hang up. You go on my line, dial *60, listen to
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the recording you hear, then call me back. I will wait here. Take
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your time. When you call back, you can apologize.
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Foreman: Well, I'm not on the test board, I'm in my office on my own
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phone.
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Me: So go to the test board, or pick me up in there wherever it is
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handy and use my line. Make a few calls. Add some numbers to the
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call screening; then call me back with egg on your face, okay?
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Foreman: Are you saying call screening is on your line and you have
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used it?
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Me: I have used it. Today. A few minutes ago I played with it.
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Foreman: I'll call you back.
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(Fifteen mionutes later) ...
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Mr. Townson! Umm ... I have been with this company for 23
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years. I'll get to the point: I have egg on my face. Not mine
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really, but the company has the egg on the face. You are correct;
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your line has call screening.
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Me: 23 years you say? Are you a member of the Pioneers?
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(surprised) Why, uh, yes I am.
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Me: Fine organization isn't it ...
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Me: I've heard a few things.
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Foreman: Look, let me tell you something. I did not know -- nor *did
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Me: You mean no one knew it w already in place?
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Foreman: No, apparently not ... I think you are the only customer in
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the Rogers Park office who has it at this time. Because the
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assumption was it was not yet installed, the reps were told not to
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take orders for it ... I do not know how your order slipped through.
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Will you be telling others?
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I have already made some calls, and yes, others will be told
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Me: Well, you know the *81 feature to turn call screening on and off
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is still not working.
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Foreman: I'm not surprised. After all, none of it is supposed to be
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working right now. You seem to know something about this business,
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Mr. Townson.
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Me: I guess I've picked up a few things along the way.
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We then chatted about the Transfer on Busy/No Answer feature. I asked
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why, if my cell phone on 312-415-xxxx had the ability to transfer calls
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out of the CO and be programmed/turned on and off from the phone
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itself, my wire line could not. 312-415 is out of Chicago-Congress
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... he thought it might have to do with that office having some
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different generics than Rogers Park ... but he could not give a
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satisfactory answer.
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So if there are any openings in the Telephone Pioneers, they ought to
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select me! :) I seem to be first with CLASS in Rogers Park; I was one
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of the first with Starline when it became available a few years ago
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(and they had a hard time programming me back then also!); I suspect I
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was one of the first people to have touch-tone service when I got it
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back in the early sixties.
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Indeed, getting CLASS has been a fun experience. A week or so from now
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if I think of it, I'll let you know of any further developments in the
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saga.
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Ken Abrams, perhaps you'd like to pass this message along to folks
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also. If they want to chat, they can find my number and call me.
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Patrick Townson
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---
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well, its day before Halloween and just sayin that look for our NIAs
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in the future and always store beer in a dark place. -JD
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