Fun_People Archive
15 Jul
We are I Don't Care. (Who's on First.)

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 96 14:56:56 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: We are I Don't Care.  (Who's on First.)

Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bsdi.com>
Forwarded-by: CSH Little <70412.2641@CompuServe.COM>

Houston (AP) -- Saturday July 13, 1996
    You're in Houston and you need help calling Dallas. The telephone
operator asks you to pick a long-distance company.
    Caller beware.
    If your answer is "I don't know", "I don't care," "it doesn't matter"
or "whoever", you might end up paying a few extra bucks when the bill
arrives.
    A company in suburban Fort Worth has trademarked those phrases as names
of Texas long-distance carriers whose rates for operator-assisted calls are
about twice those of major companies.
    "It's not deceptive at all," said Dennis Dees, president of KT&T
communication, Inc, holding company for the curiously named subsidiaries.
    Dees, who said the corporate name is only coincidentally similar to that
of phone giant AT&T, is candid when asked about the prices he charges and
the way his company attracts customers.
    "I'm charging a fair price," he said. "I've come up with a name that's
pretty creative and it's successful for us."
    [...]
    Dees said customers aren't being deceived.
    When callers tell the operator, "I don't care" for example, they are
told they are being connected to a company called I Don't Care, he said.
    "When they do it correctly, you've been warned," Dees said.
    [...]
    "We're not trying to pretend to be anything we're not," he said.
"We are I Don't Care."

© 1996 Peter Langston