This came to me in 1988 from the Internet (though back then no one called it "the Internet" and we ramped onto it through CompuServe). Enjoy.
Hotline!
By James Zachary
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 could 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 fourteen years in sewage, nothing much does offend 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 you 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 floatng 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 lite 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 fo 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!
Hmmmm. She must have dropped the phone while saluting...