I can take a message...

I tend to get all kinds of calls to my house phone and most times it is a stranger trying to speak with Elaine or the man of the house regarding a "thank you". They want to thank me alright and take my money. I have learned that if I do not recognize the voice then my standard reply is that I can take a message. More often than not, the caller gets off the phone as fast as they can or they proceed to ask for the man of the house. I realize that at some point in history this was probably proper etiquette but frankly it is an archaic request and some days it just pisses me off. Other days, I wish Simon could meow on command, as he is the man of the house. Mostly, I find the offer to take a message allows me to circumvent an out right lie and it isn't like I haven't give them the option to leave a message.

So the other day someone called my house phone and asked to speak with Elaine and I dutifully offered to take a message. She asked again, and I said I could take a message. For some reason it wasn't frustrating me, perhaps because she wasn't being rude/pushy and frankly I just lucked out. By the forth request I could hear my sister in the back ground "saying that is her, she is home". I promptly replied to the lady on the line that my sister wasn't going to get any money from me. :) The phone was then handed to my sister. Turns out that my sister had misplaced her phone and didn't want to leave the store parking lot to have to turn around if it wasn't somewhere in the car/on her person. It was rather funny. Fortunately, the lady understood my technique for answering my phone. So I proceeded to call Amy's cell phone. When the phone was located it was with the help of Luke, who started yelling when it started to ring. He was able to locate it as it was under his hiney. Heh.

~E