One of the interesting things in customer service is speaking to the same customers again. Our dear customer from yesterday, the one with the rich unmarried son, called and spoke to me again today.

"I have one more number to add to my phone, and you won't believe this one."

"Who is it?"

"Jack Dempsey. That's d-e-m-p-s-e-y."

I'm not sure exactly how I was supposed to react, but apparently my generally appreciative air did not quite satisfy him. "Your dad would know who that is."

Marriage

"Are you married?"

I hesitated for a minute, not sure how much personal information I wanted to share with the stranger on the other end of the line. Then I answered, "No, sir, I am not."

"Do you want to marry my son, Mark? He's a New York banker. And he looks like me, so you know he's handsome."

"Well, thank you for the tip."

"My other son, Chris, isn't married either. But you'd better take Mark - he's richer."

"Thank you, I will take that under advisement."

Capitalization

"I'm so confused with all these passwords and things. I don't even remember how to use the phone."

"What passwords, sir?"

"The passwords for the names."

"I'm not sure to what you are referring."

"When I dial with a capitalized number, it goes through. But if I forget to capitalize, it won't let me talk."

Though I am not positive, I think it was at this point in the call that the two of us were both most thoroughly confused. I was confused because I didn't know you could capitalize numbers. He was confused because he didn't know what he was talking about - neither of us really did.

"Sir, are you referring to the names and numbers in your phonebook?"

"Yes, the ones in the computer."

"On the computer? On your online account?"

"Yes. When I try and call, it doesn't work."

"Are you trying to call from the computer or from the phone?

"From the phone. Can I call from the computer?"

"Not as far as I know. So, when you are trying to make a call, can you walk me through what you are doing?"

I will spare you the blow by blow account of everything we went through trying to understand one another. Suffice it to say that, when he was trying to make a call, he was trying to do it by typing someone's name instead of their number. Once we got that straightened out . . .

"But what about when I am calling from my landline phone, how am I supposed to capitalize those numbers?"

The Great Juggling Adventure

Long ago, in my young innocentish days, I juggled rocks and potatoes.
The reasons compelling me to cease throwing things in the air and trying to catch them without injury have ceased to be as vivid with each passing year. Unfortuately, my dexterity also decreased. Now I find myself wishing I had never abandoned the pastime of my youth.

The Goal: To learn, once more, to juggle.

The Challenge: To accomplish this goal using the spare time on the call center floor that occurs between calls