This morning I was staring at my computer trying to figure out what I’d just been doing when the phone rang and I picked it up and said
“Chronicle Books, isn’t…this Lela?”
Halfway through the sentence my brain suddenly turned on the “system malfunction” alarm and tried to shut things down and reboot but my mouth wasn’t having it, so the questions ended on an uncertain note that would have sounded perfect if the person on the other end of the line was named Lela. He wasn’t. But he was confused and I don’t blame him. How often do you call a customer service department and find yourself immediately asked to confirm the identity of the stranger on the other end of the line? Later this afternoon I thought about how often I used to forget that when I call companies (particularly banks), the voice that answers is a human being and not just a robot that gets turned off at closing time, no matter how much some of them might sound like they are. Since I started this job I don’t forget that anymore and I hope I never forget it. Course, it would be even easier to remember if they all took a page out of my book and started out the conversation by asking me who they were.