The Stamford Telephone Bill Story

                                        The Stamford Telephone Bill Story

                                                                 1962

                                                 A true story and what I did

                                       Written 2013 and Re-written 10/2016

                                                          Howard Yasgar

  

    1961 I was attending New Haven College in New Haven Connecticut.

    The college had a  “Cooperative Program”, it was a program that allowed students to attend college classes in the morning and then work in the afternoon, the object was to allow students to get work experience in whatever profession they were planning on going into.

    I immediately got a part time job, working at Milford Auto Wrecking Company in Milford Connecticut.

    My boss Lenny asked me if I would like to haul some cars from the Milford yard to  holding yard in Stamford Connecticut.

    Eventually I found out that I was hauling stolen cars.

    Fortunately I graduated college, and quit working for Milford Auto Wrecking.

    Several months later, while I was looking for something to do, a former employee from Milford Auto Wrecking called and told that they had closed up the yard in Stamford, he felt the FBI must have had something to do with it.

    As soon as I heard it was closed I got in touch with my old boss Lenny and I offered to rent the yard.

    The next thing I knew, I was in the junk yard business in Stamford Connecticut.

    When I arrived there was a pay telephone on the wall.

     I went to make a call but the phone was dead.

     I went down to the Stamford Phone Company to get the phone turned on.

     They said it was no problem, I needed to give them a $100.00 deposit, and pay a $150.00 past due bill.

     It appears Lenny had left and not paid the phone bill.

     Back in 1961, $100.00 deposit and  $150.00 past due was a whole lot of money.

     I needed a phone so like it or not I came up with the money.

     I worked like a dog at the Stamford yard for over a year and never made any money there.

     One Sunday afternoon, I came to Stamford from New Haven to show my girlfriend my business.

     As I rattled the chain and lock on the gate I could see people inside my yard jumping over the fences and running away.

     That’s how I learned why customer never came during the week, they just came on Sunday, hopped over the fence and stole whatever they needed.

     At that very moment, I decided to leave the Stamford yard and do something else.

     Now fast forward to late 1963.

     I was newly married and trying to start a small business in Miami Florida. I was buying used automotive parts and selling them to parts rebuilding companies.

     I was just starting the business and I was working out of my car.

     To say money was tight would be an understatement.   

     That’s when I remembered that $100.00 deposit I had placed with the Stamford telephone company.

     So I called the phone company up in Stamford, and they said I would have to send them a letter requesting the return of the deposit.

     I was very happy to send them a letter, as $100.00 was still a considerable amount of money.

     So I sat down one evening and formulated a very business like letter and sent it to the Stamford Phone Company.

     About two weeks later I went to my post office box and there was what I thought was my refund check.

     I carefully opened the envelope not wanting to tear the check inside, but there was no check, only a very official looking letter.

     The letter said that the Stamford Phone Company wanted $385.00 from me.

     They claimed that the money was fraudulently stolen from the telephone in 1963, which was long after I had left  after I had left the Stamford yard.

     The letter said, if I didn’t pay within thirty days. they would take legal action against me.

     That’s when I remembered, that one day, long after I had left Stamford, I had stopped back there to see who was running the place, and that’s when I met Lou Gladstein.

     I remember Lou had a string hanging out of the pay phone.

     When I asked him about it, “He said, when you place a call, wait for the ding a ling of the money, pull the string and all the money comes back”.

     I remember that I had tried it and it worked perfectly.

     I took the letter from the Stamford Telephone Company home and very carefully resealed it with glue. I took a magic marker and wrote the following message on the front of the envelope.  

    “Undeliverable, moved to Port Au Prince Haiti. Please forward this letter to General Delivery Port Au Prince Haiti.”

     I have never heard from the Stamford Phone Company again, thank god.