Thanks to my friends, including but not limited to AJPP, Priscilla, Pauline, Elaine, Jodi, Deirdre, Sheilagh and Heather Rose.

Thanks to my boyfriend Rob Reed.

So I was covering reception at work and I get a call that says it's coming from an internal number (3rd floor central conference room) but that also happens if an outside line calls in and no one answers - some lines forward back to reception. So I answer the phone, using the standard greeting, which is "Good afternoon, Payette Associates." Then the conversation goes something like this:

Caller: "Hello, I'm calling about Ms. _ and that case on the cape."
Me: "I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number. This is an architecture firm."
Caller: (presumably to someone in her office)"Bruce! Bruce!..." then proceeds to have a conversation with this other person without saying a word to me. Not, "hold on" not, "let me check". Nothing. So I sit there in disbelief for a minute, then hang up. She calls right back.

Me: "Good afternoon, Payette Associates."
Caller: "Hello, I'm calling about Revere Transportation something-or-other about that case where they couldn't take her because they didn't have a car seat."
Me: "I'm sorry, but I think you have the wrong number. This is an architecture firm. Payette Associates."
Caller: "No, I'm calling from such-and-such about that case with Revere Transportation Department."
Me: "I don't know anything about that. I am pretty sure you must have the wrong number."
Caller: "Oh, they gave me this number."
Me: "Well it's a wrong number."

She hangs up. She immediately calls back.

Me: "Good afternoon, Payette Associates."
Caller: "Hello. I'm so-and-so calling from such-and-such about Ms. __ and the Revere Transportation Department case."
Me: "We don't have anyone by that name in this office."
Caller: (annoyed) "No, you're not listening to me. I'm not calling for her I'm calling about her case. My boss, Mr. So-and-so needs to contact you about this case."
Me: "This is an architecture firm. The name of the firm is Payette Associates. I've talked to you before. You have the wrong number. There is no case with Revere Transportation Department here."
Caller: (disbelievingly) "This isn't __ Transportation?"
Me: (more disbelievingly) "No. This is Payette Associates."
Caller: "Oh, I must have the wrong number. Sorry." Hangs up. Mercifully, this was her last call.

I can imagine how annoying the story is to read. Imagine how annoying it was to live through. Why did it take her 4 phone calls to figure out what I told her after her first sentence - that she had a wrong number? Most importantly, why did she keep calling it over and over? People are so stupid it almost makes my brain explode. It's like that episode of the Simpsons where they discover that the reason Homer is such an idiot is that he has a crayon shoved up his nose into his brain. When they pull it out he becomes so smart that he can't stand to be around normal people or watch a movie in the theater, etc. He stands up and shouts, "Is there no place in the world for the man with the hundred and ten IQ?" (For reference, an IQ of 110 is slightly above average, but certainly not genius level.)

We are downtown and there are lots of crazy people out today and bothering me. People need to quit with the goth look. People need to quit with the giant 8" platform black boots. You look like idiots, folks.