I just got this handed to me at work I called the number and I’m feeling confused. So if any of ya’ll have a clue let me know. Dial 1-800-888-3999 and do option #7. If you don’t want to hear all the options I’ll tell you what option #7 is, it’s to hear a duck quack!!??!?!?!?!
I’ve done this. It’s true. It doesn’t screw with you, or the phone or anything. The message DOES say “If you want to hear a duck quack, press 7.” If you do, a duck quacks.
Yup, I ran across that and passed it around to my coworkers a few months back. The duck quacks and then the line hangs up.
It’s true. I’ve done it.
My take on it is that it’s a “are you paying attention?” type of thing. And it’s good to know that some people in the high falutin’ business world don’t take themselves too seriously.
However, I understand that 800 lines cost the owner each time it is dialed. That is, each time somebody calls Microsoft’s 1-800 help line, Microsoft pays for a call connection (for some reason $.50 comes to mind)[sup]*[/sup]. This company could rack up some charges if gobs fo people keep calling.
[sup]*[/sup]This brings to mind a story, which might well be an urban myth. Seems that this dude was very upset with some small company regarding service or whatever and, to get back at them, set up a computer and phone line in his house to call them every few minutes on their 800 number. Of course, the computer dialed and expected a computer to answer (remember Procomm?). When a person answered (not a computer) the modem would automatically hang up and wait a few minutes before dialing again. The incomming calls would be spread out among the staff manning the phones, with each person assuming that they just got a Hang-up call and not being suspicious. This went on for years before the guy was found out.