The Backup
“Hello, this is Jenny. I’m on another call or away from my desk. Leave a message or if your call is urgent you can reach my backup, Mindy at extension 2323456.”
I left a detailed message. The following day not having received a response I called Jenny again.
“Hello, this is Jenny I’ll be out of the office until next Monday if you need help you can call my backup Mindy at extension 2323456″
“Hi this is Mindy I’m on the phone or away from my desk. You can reach my backup Jenny, at extension 6363478, or leave a message.”
Once again I left a message, a few hours later I received a call.
“Hi this is Jeff returning your call to Jenny,” he said.
“I just called her backup Mindy,” I said.
“Do you know Mindy’s last name?” he said.
“No, but I can give you her extension.”
“Good I can e-mail her and tell her I’m handling this,” he said.
“Great,” I said.
“Hold on while I send the e-mail,” he said.
“What?” I said.
Silence, and then:
“How can I help you,” he said.
“You can give me the information I requested from Jenny,” I said.
“Can you tell me what that was?” he said.
Exasperated, I go through my questions again.
“Okay if you’d like to hold on I can get the answers for you it will just take a minute,” he said.
“Why don’t you get the answers and call me back.” I said.
“Well—okay, I can do that,” he said.
A few minutes later the phone rings, I answer.
Hello, this is Norm I’m either on the phone or away from my desk, but you can reach my backup at . . .
“Huh,” he said.
I paused for a moment and then said, “Jeff, is that you Jeff?”
“Yes, It’s Jeff,” he said.
Thanks for waiting Jeff, I was either on the other line, or away from my desk.