ST. LOUIS, Missouri — Ruth Schone takes a deep breath and picks up the phone at 8 o’clock sharp.
She does this every morning, in a government office on Market Street in St. Louis, and she will do it again tomorrow, and the day after that, because the city of St. Louis has a lot of problems and someone has to listen to them.
“Thank you for calling the Citizen Service Bureau. My name is Ruth. How can I assist you?”…