If corporations are people, they can be just as infuriating, illogical and unhelpful as people can be—you know, people like Boston drivers and some acquaintances that one keeps at arms’ length.

Corporations are hard to keep at arm’s length. A friend of mine has a landline. It rang repeatedly for no reason. The choices the Verizon customer service number provided had no category for a ringing phone and no way to speak to an actual person. Verizon, a phone company, apparently does not want to talk on the phone.

Orbitz got one young man in its clutches and wouldn’t let him go. His is a common name. Obitz emailed him confirmations of plane tickets someone with the same name had bought. He explained the problem to actual people in a 90-minute conversation. The next day he got another confirmation of the same tickets the other man had bought. More 90-minute conversations. As I write this, the matter is still unsolved. Continue reading →