When I worked for Bellsouth as an operator, one of the most common calls I would receive were from pay phones. Much of the time, the calls were placed because they had no money and would make up a sob story about what an emergency they had and how they had no more money, nor no other way to bill their call. Sometimes, if it was not someone I spoke to before (because sooner or later, I got to know them all!), I would use my judgment and put the call(s) through.
One day, the manager over our department decided to do a survey. He told everyone that if you had a customer on a pay phone making a claim like this, just put the call through without question as long as it is a local call. (The calls all were twenty-five cents at the time). Then, after you take this call, write down the phone number they were calling from, then to, and turn in the sheet.
By the end of the work day, our office alone tallied more than $500 in free local calls put through from pay phones, and many of them were (you guessed it) the same people from the same numbers calling to the same numbers. I'm not sure what the actual purpose was of this survey, other than seeing how much money is given away each day. Perhaps some sort of surveillance was done on these pay phones being this is stealing, no matter what these other people out there think. What was also terrible about this is some of the calls I took were people who would also put their child on, making up the sob story that they were homeless, needed a call put through, etc. only to find out it was so Mommy could chit chat for free. Atrocious!
One day, the manager over our department decided to do a survey. He told everyone that if you had a customer on a pay phone making a claim like this, just put the call through without question as long as it is a local call. (The calls all were twenty-five cents at the time). Then, after you take this call, write down the phone number they were calling from, then to, and turn in the sheet.
By the end of the work day, our office alone tallied more than $500 in free local calls put through from pay phones, and many of them were (you guessed it) the same people from the same numbers calling to the same numbers. I'm not sure what the actual purpose was of this survey, other than seeing how much money is given away each day. Perhaps some sort of surveillance was done on these pay phones being this is stealing, no matter what these other people out there think. What was also terrible about this is some of the calls I took were people who would also put their child on, making up the sob story that they were homeless, needed a call put through, etc. only to find out it was so Mommy could chit chat for free. Atrocious!
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