Friday, March 20, 2009

It sucks to B. Madoff

Today's installment of "In the Papers" is worth watching just to hear Pat's imitation of Ruth Madoff alone. But he also mentions a column in the New York Times by Clyde Haberman, which chronicles the saga of a poor fellow whose name is B. Madoff (no relation - the a in this Madoff is pronounced like "apple") and is listed as such in the New York City phone book. This guy apparently has not gotten a moment's peace since the whole Madoff saga came into public focus.

I have some sympathy for this guy. My work phone number just happens to be one digit removed from that of a US senator. (Apparently this is true for lots of people at my company, because the Senate's exchange is exactly the same as ours, except we are in area code 212, not 202.) This has led to lots of phone calls from cranks, including people who get mad at me when I tell them they've dialed the wrong number. I'm so used to it by now that when people call me looking for Senator Soandso, I immediately say in my most professional and polite voice, "I'm sorry, you've dialed a 212 area code. Senator Soanso's office is in area code 202." Some person I spoke to today found this very helpful - so helpful that he told me I had a pretty voice, and wanted to keep chatting.

So stay strong, B. Madoff. The non-Bernie one, that is.

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