Fort Vale Telephone Co. announced Tuesday that local service had been restored following a brief interruption, an extended silence and what the company described as “a difficult conversation” with its equipment.

The notoriously unreliable utility runs on a small Mortel PMS-10 telephone switch. Technicians say the unit can handle the town’s calls, provided nobody makes a big production out of it.

Subscribers first reported trouble when unanswered calls began reaching a new voicemail greeting: “Your call is important to us. It would have been nice to hear from you before you needed something.”

Callers seeking help were offered two options: “Press one for assistance. Press two if you’re going to use that tone.” Both selections returned them to the greeting.

A company spokesman denied that the switch was moody. He said repeated dialing, impatient sighing and picking up the receiver “just to see if it’s working yet” were placing unnecessary pressure on the system.

Asked how the equipment could detect a sigh before connecting a call, the spokesman said that was exactly the sort of question that was not helping.

Repair crews restored the dial tone after replacing a relay, checking a trunk line and spending several minutes beside the cabinet assuring it that nobody was talking about replacing it.

The company called this preventive maintenance. A handwritten note taped to the switch reads PLEASE DO NOT SLAM THE DOOR. IT CAN HEAR YOU.

Wong Gai has opened an inquiry after the voicemail greeting told him he only calls when he wants something. “That is somebody who knows me,” Gai said. “A stranger would not be disappointed yet.”

Gai called back to ask who had hurt its feelings. The system replied, “Oh, NOW you want to listen,” and placed him on hold.

Fort Vale Telephone Co. advises customers with continuing trouble to call its repair number. Customers unable to complete that call are asked to report the difficulty by telephone.

The company’s billing department reported no interruption in service.