On the Job

While there are many days where things are quiet [some are downright boring] at work, there are occasional interesting things that occur. Here are some of of the best phone calls I have received this week:

1. Someone named “Max” called. This person had an extremely androgynous voice, so now I cannot use personal pronouns for him/her. Maxine? Maximilian? Maximus??

2. On a contacts form I saw that a woman was a “Church Secret.” Fascinating.
[That's way more exciting than being a secretary! And I suppose technically this wasn't a phone call, but I thought it worthy of mention.]

3. A woman called today asking for help paying utilities. She said she was from Dumfries, VA. I told her our organization helped people in Albemarle County. Her response, “Albemarle Co. –where’s that?”
I knew that was a bad sign. When I said “Charlottesville,” she still sounded confused. I think she lives a little too far away for us to help.

4. We also got the obligatory wrong number calls; one from a guy trying to order pizza from domino’s, and another from someone wanting Piedmont Pediatrics.

5. A woman called saying she was tutoring a girl for the GED. The woman was either a) tired of giving all the answers or b) wasn’t exactly sure what to do –I don’t quite know which– so she asked me if I would give the answer. The problem: There are 25 dozen eggs at $3 a dozen. How much money does it cost to buy all the eggs?
[The moral of the story: learn your multiplication tables.]

I can’t wait to see what calls I get today….