  I have this fantasy that all the evil, giant corporations share a database of customers that won’t lay down and take their shit. These customers learned by the late nineties to ask for a supervisor when customer support workers weren’t able or willing to help, and now that even supervisors are no help, these customers are getting wiser about how to capture power in a system that necessarily keeps the little man down.
I like to think I’m on that list, but I don’t really know. I know my parents are on this list because over the course of the past two years they were involved in a dispute with their mortgage company over a missing payment, which they had canceled checks for. After their house was repossessed, sold at auction, they sued the mortgage company and won a settlement that included getting their house back. This was six months ago. The mortgage company has yet to enact the terms of the settlement and they’ll probably be going back to court soon because they’ve found lawsuits as their only tool in the struggle to have a working relationship with a corporation so big they could give a flying shit whether or not you’re a satisfied customer.
I also know this woman, Jamie, is on my magical list. When MCI mistakenly charged her $900+ in bogus phone charges, and couldn’t resolve the matter over ten months, she involved the host of urlLink This American Life in her cause, and together they found resolution within twenty-four hours. She was even given the personal email address of the VP of MCI’s customer support division: jim.Meyers@mci.com just in case you need it. She’s my hero. Her story was on This American Life today and will be available to hear online in a day or two. The other story they covered today about the nation of Nauroo is also facinating. 
