Field Stimulations for Organizational Behavior Research

December 1979, volume 24 Recently a woman who was careful with her pennies received a telephone bill for 0. 00. Pleased by the tidiness of the company's recordkeeping, she filed the non-bill and went on to pay the rent. Twenty days later she received the message NOTICE PRIOR TO DISCONNECTION. She presented this paradox to a polite service representative who found her accounts in order and advised her to disregard the notice. She did. A few days later she received another threat. She returned to the company. This time she spoke with a supervisor. He checked her records, reviewed his subordinate's report, commended the woman, apologized for the company, and promised a correction. True to his word, a corrected bill for 0. 00 arrived in two days, followed shortly by a disconnection notice. She called again. The supervisor assured her again. He called the next day to confirm all was well. A week of peace was followed by another threat. Beaten but enlightened, the woman wrote a check for 0. 00 and mailed it with the computer billing card to the company, which ended the matter.