Hello?

For someone who hates talking over the phone, I'm blessed enough to do a lot of it at work. Calling up people and inviting them for our events, updating the company's list of media contacts (and getting yelled at by people who hate being asked their contact details), and doing audits of media's impressions of our client, and blah, is a stated work scope for me.

What at first seemed extremely irritating and mundane has now only become extremely irritating but slightly interesting. Calling up different people, listening to different accents, trying hard to figure out what they're saying, and worst of it all, being so nice to them over the phone ("Oh, hi, Andrew [yup, we get on first name terms very quickly], how're you, how was your vacation [we know they went on vacation].. [blah].. thanks so much, Andrew, you have a good day, ok?) and smiling so much your cheeks hurt is the exciting part of it. Your acting skills (or rather, voice modulation skills) totally come in handy and you improve them like crazy. Your voice becomes good enough to express a myriad of emotions - "Oh, I see, that's your company policy, no problem, Rose!", while you mutter curses under your breath.

Two incidents got me really doubling up laughing while on the phone. One was when I called up, asking if Mr Kim would be available to attend an event on Friday, only to be told she was on maternity leave. Gosh, unisex names! But there have been other times when I've mailed an invite to a "Ms" only to later call and find out it's a he.

Another was when I called to speak to a Mr Homiki (uhh, some Japanese name, I can't remember):
Me: Hi, this is Vani [blah].. can I speak to Mr Homiki?
Receptionist: Hi Vani, I'm sorry to inform you Mr Homiki has passed away!
Me (chokes): Oh my God, I'm so sorry.. (thinks for a few seconds as to what to say) errr.. when and how did this happen?
Receptionist: (I'm sure she was bugged to take condolence calls over an office phone for some random guy!) Anyone else you would like to talk to?

Oh, God only knows what more I have to endure. Maybe sometime soon they'll let me do media pitching, which is basically pestering media to come down and interview someone or cover some event, convincing them how it is useful for their publication/channel. Who knows, there are 16 weeks left!!