It's a typical gray
Toronto day. As I approach the
Dufferin-
Finch intersection, traffic crawls to a halt. Funny, I think, the last time traffic was this bad was when that
stoplight was broken. The air is balmy, and I am sitting listlessly, waiting to get to work. I sweep the landscape with my eyes idly, and notice the
Toronto Maple Leafs flags fluttering out of the window of nearly every car. A bus drives past -- apparently, there is no traffic problem going the other way, as is the usual -- and I catch a glimpse of the route display on top. 36 Finch, it says, and then quickly changes to "
Go Leafs Go!".
That's when it hits me. Today is the third games of the Eastern Conference finals: Toronto vs. Carolina.
And I'm heading off to telemarket.
Call 1:
Customer: Hello?
Me: Hi, I'm calling from Generic Windows, we're a...
Customer: Buddy! I'm watching the hockey game!
(hang up)
Call 2:
Customer: Hello?
Me: Hi, I'm calling from Generic Windows, we're a...
Customer: You can't call me now! The hockey game is on!
(hang up)
Call 3:
Customer(elderly, 60ish lady with thin rasping voice): He-elllllo?
Me: Hi, I'm calling from Generic Windows, we're a
Customer: No-oo, I-i'mm Soo-oo-oory. Ii'm waatchiing the h-oockey game.
(hang up)
Call 4:
Customer: Hello?
Me: Hi, I'm calling from Gene...
Customer: Hockey!
Me: Sir?
Customer: Hockey!
Me: I'm just calling from ...
Customer: Hockey!
(hang up)
Call 6:
Customer: Hello?
Me: Hi, I'm calling from Gene...
Customer: Yeah, listen, no thanks, but call me back every half-hour and I'll tell you what the score is.
(hang up)
Call 7:
Customer: (noises of hockey game in the background)
Me: Hello? Hello?...
10 minutes later
(hang up)
And I wasn't even calling Toronto! I was calling
Barrie, which is a full hour or so north of Toronto. We've been forced to stop calling people about a half-hour after the start of a game every time there's a hockey game for the past few weeks.
The moral?
Before you start with the softlinking, I'm not a pro telemarketer. This is just a part-time highschool job