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[bostic@okeeffe.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Bostic): Duhhhh]

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Date:    Wed, 29 Aug 90 13:01:50 -0700 
From:    bostic@okeeffe.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Bostic)
To:      /dev/null@okeeffe.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Duhhhh

>From the "Metropolitan Diary" column in the August 19 New Work Times:

Dear Diary:

   At the end of July I moved from an apartment near Columbia University
to Albany.  In preparation, I phoned several moving companies at their
800 numbers for estimates.  Since those answering the phones are mostly
in places like Omaha and Dallas, they usually aren't familiar with the
city one is moving to or from.  Talking to these representatives can be
a lesson to New Yorkers about how little the rest of the country knows
about the place we tend to see as the center of the world, if not the
universe.

   I had some interesting conversations explaining the elevator system,
the problem of parking a moving van on a city street, etc., but this
exchange with the representative of a Midwest-based moving company was
easily my favorite:

   Me: I would like to arrange for a truck to move my furniture from a
six-room apartment in New York City to a house outside Albany, N.Y.

   800 respondent: I can't find New York City in my book.  Can you tell
me another city it's near?

   Me: What city New York City is near?

   800: Yes, ma'am.  I don't have any listing for New York City.  Can
you say something it's near?

   Me: New York City!  Manhattan!

   800: O.K., good.  I've got that.  It's near Manhattan then?

   Me: Yes, that's it.  It's near Manhattan.

                                        TERESA MEADE

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