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Order
To Pay Fines
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
Sunday, November 29, 1992
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) was ordered to
pay $333,000 in penalties to Inyo County because DWP's property tax
payment arrived late -- after having been sent back for $3.40 in
additional postage.
Ordering fast food
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
One night, a few co-workers at the computer data center
where I work stayed late and we all started to get hungry. We decided to order in
food by phone, but our boss thought that, since we work with
computers, it would be more appropriate to order by Internet. After
we contacted a fast food chain's web site and spent a long time
registering as new customers for the delivery service, a message
appeared on the screeen: "Thank you for your business. You will be
able to order food in three days."
Passing
A School Bus
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
"Unlawful to Pass School Bus from Either Direction"
I guess that some people misunderstood that, because now it
reads:" Unlawful to Pass Stopped School Bus from Either Direction".
Pathetic
Lawsuit
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
January 16, 1993
In 1989, a Union Bridge, Md., high school permitted a female student,
Tawana Hammond, 17, to try out for its football team under the
pressure of a federal statute that bars school discrimination on the
basis of gender.
On her first scrimmage, Tawana, a running back, was tackled and
suffered massive internal injuries.
In October 1992, she filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against the county
board of education for its alleged failure to tell her how dangerous
football is.
Pentagon
and Pencils
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
GET OUT YOUR 'PORTABLE HAND-HELD COMMUNICATIONS INSCRIBERS'
WASHINGTON - When is a pencil not a pencil? When it's on a Pentagon
shopping list - then it's a ''portable hand-held communications
inscriber,'' says a Republican senator.
People
With Busy Lives
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
St. Paul, Minnesota:
For people with lots on their agenda, Minnesota Mining &
Manufacturing Company creates 25-inch-by-30-inch Post-It Easel
Pads.
Phone
Company Error
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or funny.
Phone Company Gives Something for Nothing
Dear Ann,
I think I can top the person who wrote complaining about the idiocy of the phone company. Talk about garbage in, garbage out!
When AT&T split with Bell, we had three phones in our house. The equipment belonged to Ma Bell and the service belonged to AT&T. After we returned all the phone equipment to Ma Bell, we received a bill for $0.00. A few weeks later, we received a check for $5 and a note thanking us. Several months later, we received another computerized bill for $0.00. We called again, got nowhere, so we sent another check for $0.00. A few weeks later we received another $5 refund with the same thank you.
This went on every three months for two years. Now we are down to once a year and have given up trying to straighten this out. We just cash the $5 and forget about it.
-- Linda K. R. in California
Phone
Keeps Ringing
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
Phone Won't Stop Ringing?
Here's What You Do
Leola Starling of Ribrock, Tenn., had a serious telephone problem.
But unlike most people she did something about it.
The brand-new $10 million Ribrock Plaza Motel opened nearby and had
acquired almost the same telephone number as Leola.
From the moment the motel opened, Leola was besieged by calls not for
her. Since she had the same phone number for years, she felt that she
had a case to persuade the motel management to change its number.
Naturally, the management refused claiming that it could not change
its stationery.
The phone company was not helpful, either. A number was a number, and
just because a customer was getting someone else's calls 24 hours a
day didn't make it responsible. After her pleas fell on deaf ears,
Leola decided to take matters into her own hands.
At 9 o'clock the phone rang. Someone from Memphis was calling the
motel and asked for a room for the following Tuesday. Leoloa said,
"No problem. How many nights?"
A few hours later Dallas checked in. A secretary wanted a suite with
two bedrooms for a week. Emboldened, Leola said the Presidential
Suite on the 10th floor was available for $600 a night. The secretary
said that she would take it and asked if the hotel wanted a deposit.
"No, that won't be necessary," Leola said. "We trust you."
The next day was a busy one for Leola. In the morning, she booked an
electric appliance manufacturers' convention for Memorial Day
weekend, a college prom and a reunion of the 82nd Airborne veterans
from World War II.
She turned on her answering machine during lunchtime so that she
could watch her favorite soap opera, but her biggest challenge came
in the afternoon when a mother called to book the ballroom for her
daughter's wedding in June.
Leola assured the woman that it would be no problem and asked if she
would be providing the flowers or did she want the hotel to take care
of it. The mother said that she would prefer the hotel to handle the
floral arrangements. Then the question of valet parking came up. Once
again Leola was helpful. "There's no charge for valet parking, but we
always recommend that the client tips the drivers."
Within a few months, the Ribrock Plaza Motel was a disaster area.
People kept showing up for weddings, bar mitzvahs, and Sweet Sixteen
parties and were all told there were no such events. Leola had her final revenge when she read in the local paper that the
motel might go bankrupt. Her phone rang, and an executive from
Marriott said, "We're prepared to offer you $200,000 for the motel."
Leola replied. "We'll take it, but only if you change the telephone
number."
Problem
During Flight
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
On a recent flight, an elderly passenger kept peering out the
window. Since it was totally dark, all she could see was the blinking
wing-tip light.
Finally, she rang for the flight attendant.
"I'm sorry to bother you," she said, "but I think you should inform
the pilot that his left-turn indicator is on and has been for some
time."
Public
Scholl Danger
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
Sunday, November 29, 1992
An investigation by the Dallas Morning News revealed the city's
public schools employ at least 185 people who have been convicted of
felonies, including two convicted murderers.
In response, the school superintendent promised that the city would
begin periodic records checks.
Race
Dead Candidate
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
Martinez, California:
Gus Kramer faces an unusual challenge in his race for county
assessor: His opponents would rather see a dead man elected.
Kramer's only rival in the Contra Costa County race, Dan
Hallissy, died of a heart attack April 10 -- too late for anyone else to run.
But Hallissy's name will remain on the ballot for the June 7
nonpartisan primary. And the incumbent assessor is working to get him
elected.
Voters should have "a chance to elect an honest, experienced person
to this office," said assessor John Biasotti.
A Hallissy victory would force a special election next March, open to
any candidate.
U.S. Representative Bill Baker, a Republican, also is backing the
posthumous effort. His spokesman said voters should have a choice.
Kramer, who briefly stopped campaigning to mark Hallissy's death,
decried the effort as a "classical case of cronyism." He said his
opponents "want the taxpayer to blow $800,000," about the cost of a
special election.
Kramer also bristled at the charge he's unfit for the job, citing his
experience as city clerk for Martinez and as a real estate agent for
the county's Public Works Department.
The assessor's office is responsible for estimating property values
in the 830,000-person county, 30 miles east of San Francisco. The job
pays $84,000 a year.
Reduce
National Debt
The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides
being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or
funny.
Monday, December 7, 1992
In October, an envelope containing $15,000 in cash was left,
anonymously, on a chair at the Detroit IRS office with the
instruction to apply it "to reduce the national debt."
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