We Are Willing Slaves to Purveyors of Telephones

Cellphone contracts represent both the semi-sexual climax and death rattle of our civilization. This magical meeting of law, technology and corporate bravado has created a whole wild new frontier of consumer interaction, undoing along the way centuries of prevailing thought about the customer being “right” and having any power of “voting with their dollars.” It’s remarkable what we chose to accept! But if you think we have it bad in America? Try dealing with canceling a cellphone contract in France: “Go to the United States and once you are there, go to the Mairie de Californie (aka the ‘city hall of California’) and get them to write you a letter saying you live there.”