Last month I said that I would say a little more about working as an AT&T long distance operator. Well, December is nearly over and you’re probably wondering where part 2 is…here it is. And you will find out why I called this “Will you do me a favor?”

We used to get calls from all kinds of people. Since we were one of only two call centers in New England, there were several prisons that we serviced. Prisoners were only allowed to make collect calls so we talked to almost every prisoner who was making a long-distance drug deal or just trying to talk to his wife who’s cheating with his best friend while he’s in the clink. Some of these guys were okay, others would try to get you to put calls through for free or to connect them to 800 numbers and the like in order to pull off some scam. Some of the younger women we worked with were caught chatting with the prisoners from time to time and they were reprimanded. I guess it was the ‘danger’ that was the attraction – who knows?

There was also this other guy – not a prisoner – who we called Mr. Miller. This guy was a wacko who had had a legal problem with AT&T somewhere along the line and he was no longer allowed to have phone service at his home. I don’t know exactly what the problem was, but he had been calling and berating the operators on a regular basis for many years before I began working there. I guess he now had some mail-order bride chick in Nicaragua. He would call every day and have us place a coin-paid, person to person call to his Nicaraguan sweetie for him. The funny thing about this was that she would always tell him that she was going to come to the States next month and he would send her airfare like every month! This happened for the whole 4 years I was there! No doubt she was livin’ large on his cash!

Here’s a typical conversation with Mr. Miller.

[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Hello operator.
[b]Op:[/b] Hello, Mr. Miller.
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Operator, coin paid person to person call to Lea in Nicaragua, please.
[b]Op:[/b] Okay Mr. Miller, please deposit $3.25
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Okay. [sound of depositing coins] Make sure I don’t get cut off this time, operator.
[b]Op:[/b] Don’t worry, I will make sure you get connected, Mr. Miller.
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Okay, that’s $3.25.
[b]Op:[/b] [hearing only $2.00 drop] No, Mr. Miller, that is only $2.00. Please deposit $1.25 more.
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Okay [deposits $1.25]
[b]Op:[/b] Okay, I will connect you now and after I get her on the phone, I will have you deposit $2.25 more. Okay?
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Yes operator. Make sure I get a clear connection this time. I couldn’t hear her last time.
[b]Op:[/b] I will.
[phone rings in Nicaragua, Lea’s mother answers. operator asks for Lea. Lea eventually comes to phone.]
[b]Op:[/b] Okay, please hold. Mr. Miller please deposit $2.25 for the first 3 minutes.
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] I just did. The coins must be jammed.
[b]Op:[/b] No, you didn’t deposit anything. Please deposit the coins.
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] [drops a few coins in] Okay.
[b]Op:[/b] That was only $.75
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Okay. [drops a few more coins in – eventually gets them all in]
[b]Op:[/b] Okay, I will stay with you to make sure you don’t get disconnected [note: this was not standard practice, but we did it with Mr. Miller because he was such a pain in the ass]
[b]Lea:[/b] Hello Lee [in thick accent][yes, their names were very close!]
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Hello Lea. How are you?
[b]Lea:[/b] Fine Lee. How are you?
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Good. I will send you the money next week. When are you coming here?
[b]Lea:[/b] Next month, Lee.
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Good. How is your mother?
[b]Lea:[/b] She is fine, Lee.
[b]Mr. Miller:[/b] Good. Operator, I can’t hear her well. Is there any way we can connect again?
[b]Op:[/b] The connection sounds fine, Mr. Miller….

This would go on for about 15 minutes. About every other day or so, we would get a call from Mr. Miller and he would say that he had been disconnected and that he needed a refund. We never allowed him a refund. Some days, he would be very nice and others you would have to take a break after you spoke with Mr. Miller because he would make you so tense.

Oh, look at that! Where did the time go? Looks like you will have to come back next month to see why this is called ‘Will you do me a favor?’. Sorry!