When I worked for Xerox, I was in the field. In NYC, Xerox had a number of field office, that Xerox employees used as lunch rooms. These facilities had phones, but the numbers were not listed as "Xerox", so customer did not know the number.

Sometimes, managers tried to reach employees at the field offices to alert them to hot calls. Technicians who wanted to have a work free lunch hour disliked the interruption.
One technician was beeped by a manager, but wanted to wait till he had finished lunch before taking any calls.

A few minutes later, the field office phone rang– the tech suspected it was the manager. He answered the phone, and spoke in a very mechanical way
"You have reached a non working tech rep at a Xerox field Office. If you wish to speak to a working tech rep, please call (the 800 # for service) or try again later."
and then hung up!

The phone rang again, repeatedly for several minutes– before the noise bothered me. I answered the phone, all sweetness and light. The manager at the other end was hopping mad– and wanted to know who else was in the office. I lied– and said "no one" and then he asked if I had seen anyone exiting the office. I commented that I came to the site a few minutes ago, but had first gone to the Ladies room to wash my hands, and when I entered the office, no one was in it, and the phone was ringing...

The other tech reps watched and listened as a blithely lied– the manager wanted to interrogate me, but I asked him "how long will this take? And how do I account for my time on my work sheet? Xerox business?" Since he was not my manager–he ended the call. And I ate my lunch.


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