When Peggy got Cutting Edge

.

"This is so exciting," [Peggy Noonan] wrote to a friend. "I am on an airplane going over the Rockies. I am sending you an email. Down there the settlers went in covered wagons.

I remember that feeling. Only it wasn't email. I was on a plane headed to Hartford, Connecticut from Santa Clara, California for a corporate meeting with some other folks employed by Konica. The airplane seatback in front of me had one of those credit card telephones on it. Thinking how cool it would be, I called back to the lab in Santa Clara and asked to speak to Denise, my departmental second-in-command.

"Konica Quality Photo, how may I help you?"
"This is Gary. I'd like to speak to Denise, please."
"One moment, please."
And she put me on hold.
For five minutes.

That damned phone call cost me twelve dollars.
Denise was impressed.