Microserfs

by Douglas Coupland

Here’s something interesting … did you know you can figure out how important your state or province was circa 1961 by adding up the code’s three digits? Zero equals 10.” “No.” “It’s because zeros used to take forever to go around the little rotary dial—while ones zipped along quickest. The lowest possible code, 212, went to the busiest place, New York City. Los Angeles got 213. Alaska got 907. See my point?” Karla always comes up with the best digressions. “Yes.” “Imagine Angie Dickinson in Los Angeles (213) telephoning Suzanne Pleshette in Las Vegas (702) sometime before the Kennedy assassination. She dials the final ‘2,’ breaks a fingernail, and cusses a shit under her breath irritated at Suzanne for being in a location with a loser area code.”