Sales Calls

As a receptionist there are many people that I talk to on the phone everyday. Every person that calls is greeted, "Marv's Insulation. This is Kami!" in my most chipper and upbeat voice.

One of the many perks of being a receptionist is something that I like to call 'Caller ID'. Most of the time when a person calls in, I know who is going to greet me on the other line. A regular customer, a new customer, a vendor, or an angry person that personally attacks me because of the stupidity of someone else. So I am up for almost anything.

The one thing that erks me the most is a call that I have yet to mention. When my phone begins to ring and my handy dandy caller id says, "OUT OF AREA" or "CALLER UNKNOWN" or "some long distance number that I don't even know where the prefix comes from" my blood begins to boil. I know that there is only one thing waiting for me. The Sales Call.

The person on the other line almost always will find some sort of way to coerce me into either making my boss get on the other line or handing out his cell phone number. In my early days of being a little, naive receptionist, my boss didn't like me very much. I have, however, now become a very smooth conniver myself. NO ONE gets past Kami without some deep interrogations to assure myself that I will not get harassed for letting a salesman through.

So, for all of you salesman out there, I DON'T need anyone to come and shred my paper, I DON'T need anyone to clean our toilets, and I definitely DON'T need anyone to change our mats!

(For those of you who do not know, I am married to a wonderful man by the name of Stephen Post, who just happens to be a salesman. A VERY good salesman at that. The following has NO reference to him.)