Verizon Wireless And Heartless?
Verizon refused to help an Ohio sheriff's department triangulate a missing man's cell phone until Sheriff Dale Williiams paid his overdue $20 phone bill. Nancy Schaar writes for the Times-Reporter:

After some disagreement, Williams agreed to pay $20 on the phone bill in order to find the man. But deputies discovered the man just as Williams was preparing to make arrangements for the payment.

The sheriff organized the search party for the man after deputies responded to the domestic call Wednesday at 2:21 p.m. at the Kensington Rd. residence. The sheriff said the caller said the man was destroying the house and breaking windows and other items.

But when deputies arrived they were told the man had fled and had taken several bottles of pills.

"I was more concerned for the person's life," Williams said. "It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his phone for five or 10 minutes, just long enough to try and find the guy. But they would only turn it on if we agreed to pay $20 of the unpaid bill. Ridiculous."

Williams said he doesn't know how close the situation was to becoming a tragedy because he's not a doctor, but he thinks the man's condition was very serious.

Maybe it's tacit company policy, maybe it's just one dumb, heartless bitch or bastard working for Verizon, who knows. The reporter doesn't seem to have called Verizon to find out. Why the sheriff didn't ask for a supervisor and the supervisor's supervisor, if need be, is another mystery. Maybe this reporter should have gone to curiosity school (I'm not for journalism school, and you might've known that, had the L.A. Times not cut the attribution out of my thoughts they printed on Sunday, making them look as if they came from the reporter who asked me for them.)

via ObscureStore