Monday, April 23, 2012

Awkward Intro Call

One of the least things I like do is make "cold calls."  Something about phoning a complete stranger to solicit information, or worse: make a proposition or some sort of sales pitch, is extremely off-putting.  I hate it when people do it to me and I hate it even more when I'm forced to do it to others.  The only exceptions I can think when calling strangers are okay are when you request service for some product of theirs you've purchased, like contacting tech support, or when you actually have requested someone to contact you to give you more information.

Anyway, today my dad asked me to give someone he worked with in the past a call to see if there were any new job leads that my dad could partake.  With my dad's limited English ability unfortunately, he could only remember a part of the guy's name.  That's just great.  I never met this guy, know only half of what I think is his name and now I'm suppose to call him and ask "what's up?"

After two tries he picked up and amazingly listened to my whole awkward introduction.  He didn't hang up on me instantly.  Thankfully he was a nice, and patient, guy after I explained the situation to him.

This whole ordeal felt like it took forever, but it actually was done rather quickly.  I guess all that contemplating how to introduce myself to someone my dad knows but not his name made it unnecessarily long.  Like I said before I dislike doing this.  I hope I don't find myself in this scenario again.

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