Wrong Number

Yesterday I filled in at the reception desk while a department went to lunch. I haven't sat up there for a long time and now I remember why.

The first call I got I put through to the wrong extension and when he called back I hung up on him. When he called back again I got it right but I tried to answer the phone with a different voice so he'd think it wasn't me. The next call was from someone who I believe was on a cell phone, driving through a tunnel, with marshmallows in his mouth. I kept saying "who, who, who" like an owl on crack. I finally put him through to the person I thought he kind of sounded like he was asking for a figured I'd let them figure it out.

Thankfully the rest of my stay at the desk went okay. There was, of course, the client who handed me his parking ticket and asked if I'd validate him. So I said "You are a swell person who a lot of potential and will do great things in this world." Well he wanted validation so I delivered.

The other thing about sitting at the front desk is you are trapped and people feel very free to come and tell you things you don't care about because they know you can't get up and leave or close your door -- all you can do is pray that a call will come in and maybe, just maybe, they'll go away.

No I think a receptionist career is not for me, although I do like to have access to the paging system. You never know when you'll get the urge to tell the entire office "Clean up on aisle 7."