Following is my friend Dan's email account of his phone conversation with an MCI representative today:

"The day has just started out here and I've already been entertained. I got a call from MCI a few minutes ago. A nice young woman by the name of Veronica called to sell me some $49.99 unlimited local/long distance plan. When she inquired about where I make my calls I told her the east coast. She said, "Where, New York?"

"No," I replied, "New England."

"Wow! That really is east coast," the young woman proclaimed as she dropped the sales pitch and started asking questions about the weather in New England, the clothes in New England, what we do for fun in New England, etc. She talked about her family living in Arizona while she lives in Wisconsin with her baby who will turn 1 on August 5. I answered all her questions and started to wonder why she felt the need to shoot the shit with me at 8am on a Tuesday morning. I am, after all, unemployed and need my sleep. Anxious to get this woman off the phone I inquired about the plan she was trying to sell me. She said, "Well, since you don't make any calls in the United States, then this plan isn't for you and right now we aren't offering any international plans. I'll give you my number and if you know of anyone who may want this plan then have them call me." I very much wanted to set the record straight that New England is very much domestic but didn't feel like engaging in a 3rd grade geography lesson. I had no intention of buying the plan, so I just went along with the fact that New England is a far away place, far from the reaches of the awful hands of MCI."