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I know that you don't need proof that people will rip you off if you give them the chance, but check this out anyway:

Widow Rented Phone for 42 Years

CANTON, Ohio - A widow rented a rotary dial telephone for 42 years, paying what her family calculates as more than US$14,000 for a now outdated phone.

Ester Strogen, 82, of Canton, first leased two black rotary phones - the kind whose round dial is moved manually with your finger - in the 1960s. Back then, the technology was new and owning telephones was unaffordable for most people.

Until two months ago, Strogen was still paying AT&T to use the phones - US$29.10 a month. Strogen's granddaughters, Melissa Howell and Barb Gordon, ended the arrangement when they discovered the bills.

This gets better. Check out the phone company's excuse.

"We will continue to lease sets as long as there is a demand for them," Skalko said.

Benefits of leasing include free replacements and the option of switching to newer models, he said.

Option of switching to newer models? In 42 years nobody called Ester to ask her if she wanted a new phone? My cellular phone company wants me to buy a new phone ever other week!

$29 per month is an awfully steep price to pay for free replacements on two phones, especially when you consider that Walmart has phones for under $10. This woman could've bought three phones a month for what she's being charged!

Oh, and just to prove that you can't please everyone:

Strogen says she's not a big fan of her new push-button phone.

"I'd like to have my rotary back," she said. "I like that better."

Rats! I just threw an old rotary phone away. I could've leased it to her for $19.95 a month.