All call takers have computers they consult in the search for answers to callers' questions.
Mr. Sibat appeared on Lebanese television earning $700 a month to answer callers' questions, offer advice, cast spells or recite incantations.
It followed an interview on Wednesday in which the acting intelligence chief answered callers' questions on a radio program, and two interviews on Tuesday with news agencies.
More than a century before John Edward had his psychic television series and Sylvia Browne answered callers' questions on Larry King, Kate, age 11, and Maggie, 14, were wowing audiences in New York, Washington and Ohio.
In the Client Services department, where service representatives are kept busy answering callers' questions, Monique Hauser's cubicle is a kaleidoscope of visual imagery.
Even as technology has changed everything from ovens and meat thermometers to how turkeys are raised, Ms. Clausen said, callers' questions about cooking a holiday turkey have remained pretty much the same.
So, for example, 16 inmates sitting like telemarketers in office cubicles are answering callers' questions to the Department of Motor Vehicles or the secretary of state's office, saving the cost of state employees.
Some caller questions are verboten.
Fisher was soon apologizing -- sort of -- on his weekly radio show after a caller questioned him about it.
