MCI: Putting The Distance Into Long Distance

For reasons I'll probably never know or understand, none of the telephone jacks in our new home worked.
This created quite a hassle, not to mention a bit of anger over the seller leaving us with this little problem, among others.
I've been less than happy with MCI since their representatives harassed us morning, noon and night after a bill that was paid late due to the lethargic postal service in Hurricane Rita's aftermath last year. It was if news of the hurricane had failed to reach them.
And maybe it had, because I found out something interesting today about MCI.
Because it appeared that the phone problem with the new home was inside the house, it was up to the long-distance provider to fix it. The charge: $180.
After a long discussion with an MCI representative - and my threat to find another long-distance provider - it was agreed that the company would fix my phone, charge me the $180 but credit it back to me after I got the bill.
But the earliest appointment I could get with a repairman was WEEKS away.
In the meantime, I had to run a 50-foot cord from the outside test jack, which worked, into the house through the kitchen window. We would have relied on cell phones, but service where we live is spotty, sometimes requiring us to wear a tinfoil hat, face east and stand on one leg atop a chair in a far house corner house to get a call out.
The repairman finally came, but even he was perplexed over why the phone jacks in the house didn't work. Ultimately, he had to run a new line into the house to one jack, which we set up for use for a satellite phone system throughout the home.
Anyway, I recently got the bill and called MCI today to clear the $180 charge. I fully expected hassle and denial, but the representative was friendly and accommodating.
And spoke with a funny accent, just like every MCI representative before her.
Following some conversation, I finally said, "What the heck is that accent? Every person I've talked to there speaks with that accent."
"I am in the Philippines," she said.
"You are IN the Philippines?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Everyone I've talked to is in the Philippines?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
Everyone I talked to also spoke excellent English, albeit with that exotic Philippines accent.
Curious to know her working conditions, I pressed on.
"Do they pay you well?" I asked.
"Yes, they sure do!" she said, laughing.
"Do you have health benefits?" I asked.
"Oh yes! We have health benefits!" she said cheerfully.
"Stock options?"
"Why yes! We have everything!"
I don't know how I feel about having the representatives of my long-distance provider based in the Philippines, but I suppose it's nice that the company seems to be making a lot of people happy over there. Or maybe they're just naturally happy. Every MCI representative I talked to was about as cheery and friendly as he or she could be. It actually brightened my day a bit to talk to one.
If nothing else, I take great comfort in knowing that if they're calling to bug me about late payment, they might be making quite an expensive long-distance call to do it.
Irony, baby.