Even Though It’s 8 Cents, It’s No Way to Run a Phone Company
Charles Piccaro Sr. has been the unwilling participant in a strange game of telephone company tag. It began when he tried to close his GTE account and the company said fine but it owed him 8 cents.
Piccaro, a Manhattan Beach resident (who shared his paperwork with this column), phoned the company to decline the windfall. But a GTE rep told him “that was impossible.” GTE would have to send him a check.
And in due time, the 8-cent refund arrived.
A week later, Piccaro received a second check for 8 cents.
Then came an additional bill. Yup, it said Piccaro owed GTE 8 cents.
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IF A CHAIR FALLS IN THE FOREST . . . : Leah Relth, the accountant for a San Juan Capistrano firm, ordered chairs from an office supply company. When the furniture hadn’t arrived after several weeks, she canceled the order and bought some from another company. Then the original company billed her. She phoned to explain the situation and reports the following conversation:
Clerk: “So the chairs were never delivered?”
Relth: “No.”
Clerk: “Can you give me the date that the chairs weren’t delivered?”
Relth: “Huh?”
Clerk: “On what date were the items not received?”
Relth: “The items were always not received.”
Clerk: “I understand that, but I need to put down a date that you didn’t get the merchandise.”
She finally picked her son Michael’s birthday out of thin air and that satisfied the clerk.
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A SIGN THAT’S TOO REVEALING: Times photographer Rick Meyer noticed a pantyhose sign in L.A. that had a run of bad spelling.
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BOTH SERVE FAT CATS: Observing a “Banker/Pastry Cooks” category in a classified ad (see accompanying), Ken Brock of Upland commented, “Well, I suppose they’re both used to working with dough.”
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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com
