Subject: The Hotline (from the FidoNet newsletter)
From: watmath!decvax!ucbvax!sandia!eeyore!marms (Mike Arms)
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 97 0:20:05 EST
Newsgroups: rec.humor.funny.reruns

Hotline! (3)
                                (c) 1987
                             James Zachary

(I'm taking a risk here.  I'm assuming that deliberate network
distribution of this copyrighted article implies permission for further
distribution on this network and its members.)

            ------------------------------------------------

Every now and again, a caller to the water and wastewater department
will ask about issues of national concern.

RING!

Southeast Plant, this is Zack.

"I am taking a survey for my organization.  Do you have time to answer
a few questions?"

Ma'am, this is a sewage plant...

"You are a taxpayer and a voter, aren't you?"

Yes, Ma'am, but ...

"This will only take a few moments.  Do you think prophylactics should
be on television?"

Say what?

"Prophylactics...  condoms...  they are..."

I KNOW what they are, lady.

"Should they be on your TV?"

What good would they do on my TV?  It never leaves the house....

"DO YOU FAVOR ADVERTISING THEM ON TV!?"

I couldn't care less.

"WELL, YOU BETTER CARE!  THERE IS AN AIDS EPIDEMIC GOING ON, AND THE
PUBLIC IS BASICALLY IGNORANT!"

You seem to be a living testament to that...

"Would advertising them on TV offend you?"

After 14 years in sewage, nothing much does offends me.

"Now, as a viewer of TV, what names would you find the least
offensive?"

Trojan.

"I mean what descriptive name?  Condoms...?  Prophylactics...?"

Call them rubbers.  I don't much care.

"That's a bit crude, don't you think?"

Here at work, we call them whitefish or bottlebass....

"What do mean 'at work'...?  You wear them at work?"

No, Ma'am.  Remember that this is a sewage plant, and that anything
considered disposable usually winds up being flushed down the commode.
Every day, we get a few thousand of them buggers floating in the
clarifiers and filters.  You seem like you are preparing to lobby for
having them advertised on TV, so maybe you can give me a break and tell
people to quit flushing them.

"What harm does flushing them do?"

Ma'am, they plug the sewer pipes and everything else.  I remember one
of the many times that I had to pull a plugged pump.  You can never see
what is in that mass of goo stuck in the pump impeller, so you just
have to reach in and grab hold of it all.  Well, some bozo had flushed
one of those 'exciter' types...

"What type is that?"

...  the kind with antlers.  I mean to tell ya, it scared the hell
outta me, when I latched onto that thing!  It was wiggling like it was
alive!  For a moment, I thought I had an octopus by the ears...

"Uhhh...  you mean...  there is more than one type?"

Oh, yes, Ma'am!  Should be interesting to see all of the marketing
approaches they will use on TV.  Should also be REAL educational for
the "ignorant public" that you are so worried about.  We used to keep a
bulletin board filled with all of the different sizes, models, and
colors...

"You are kidding, of course...."

Oh, no, Ma'am!  We fished out all of the novelty items, and tacked them
up for display.  My favorite was one that had the American flag on it.

"The flag?  Just where did they put the flag?"

About half-staff....

CLICK!

Hmmmmm.  She must have dropped the phone while saluting....

--
From the RHF archives as selected by Brad Templeton, Maddi Hausmann and
Jim Griffith.  This newsgroup posts former jokes from the newsgroup
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and archives on the web.