Conversation with Mary Norwoord's Supervisor, Luigi Asuncion. She had written his name on her business card for me on August 3, as she thought I should talk with him about the problems occurring with the combination of the old cables, the 2 pair buried drop, and the DAML. I tried phoning him, but he never returned my calls.

This conversation took place rather by accident. I had called 611 with business phone troubles again. The 611 operator checked my phone line and said there was "a swinging trouble...short in the ground." I explained it was the fourth time in seven months I had problems with the lines connected to the DAML, and asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor (Tami, #472) said she would contact the field supervisor, who turned out to be Mr. Asuncion.

At 1:25 pm I received a call from someone who identified himself as Pacific Bell. I asked for a name, and he said, "This is Pacific Bell." I asked again for his name, and the response was, "How did you get my pager number?" I told him I called 611 about the current and repeated problems with my phone line, and asked the repair operator to please get ahold of a supervisor in my area. He aked for her name and I told him. He spent the next several minutes telling me I had an attitude problem! To get him back on track, I asked him to look up the history of my phone problems and get back to me. I then hung up.

About 20 minutes later, he called back, having calmed down. Before recording the conversation, I said, "Let me turn on the recorder." I then pressed the button. You can tell by his demeanor that he knew he was being recorded. He explained for quite some time that it was some kind of fluke that my lines had gone bad 4 times in 7 months— that some people are just unlucky. He did insist that it was very unlikely the problems were caused by the DAML, that a defective DAML would not give intermittent problems, it would just go. (But he did agree that a DAML must have a perfect line to operate properly, and said it was his responsibility to get me a "clearer line".) (panel 2)

Mr Asuncion was adamant that it was a cable problem, and the cable probably should be replaced. But he said he had already talked to his boss who had told him "no, we don't dig up cables. We don't dig up and place stretches for people." (See panel 4, fourth paragraph. To whom is Luigi referring as his "boss" — is it Resnick?)

In the end he promised that Mary Norwood would be out later to fix the cable. She and Ken Hart did come, that afternoon, to carry out repairs. They both looked embarrassed by the situation. They both told me Pac Bell Management would not fix the problem. They gave me cable and told me to dig a trench, and that I should call them directly and they would remove the DAML.