Ate humble pie, I did

Boston. December 1999. It was a cold and windy night. (I have always wanted to try that opening.)
I needed to call a friend in India and could not get through on direct dialing. After trying more than a few times, I called the AT&T operator and told them that I was trying to reach this number in India but was unable to get through.

The operator asked if I would like to go through an operator assisted call.
"Sure." I said.
"Connecting you now" she said and put me through.

I remember I spoke for 22 minutes. I remember this because the next phone bill had this entry "Operator Assisted Call - Country Code 91 - 22 minutes - US$ 88."

"88 dollars? For one call? I am not having any of this." I thought as I dialed the operator again.


"AT&T operator. How may I help you?"


"I have received this bill and there must be an error. There is this one call, just one call, you understand, that I am being charged 88 dollars for. I trust this is in error. Could you reverse this charge?"

"Let me check. Could you confirm your mother's maiden name?... Ah I see here that you requested an operator assisted call and those are charged at $4 per minute. This was a 22 minute call. That's $88."

"But, but, but, the operator did not tell me it would be charged at this exorbitant rate. She only asked if I wanted an operator assisted call and I said yes. She should have told me the charges."

"I am sorry if there has been any confusion, but the charges for operator assisted calls are stated clearly on your monthly bill. It is also clearly stated that your long distance plan will not cover operator assisted calls."

 "This is daylight robbery. If you do not reverse the charges now, I will switch to another telephone company first thing tomorrow."  Deal with that - I thought - imagining a softening of stance and some offer to reduce the charges if nothing else.

"AT&T would be happy to assist you with a switch to another operator. Would you prefer Sprint or MCI? I can get their operator on the line right away and we can effect the switch within 24 hours."

"Gulp. Um. Not right now. Let me think about this. I will call you tomorrow."

"Thank you for calling AT&T." Click. [with a very very smug smile I am sure]


You would think that I would have learned for good that day, not to issue threats that I did not intend to enforce. I guess I am a slow learner. But then, life is a patient teacher.