Customer Service

Here's another blast from the past: I used to work at a Barnes & Noble. Wait, there's more to this story.

One day, while working at one of the INFORMATION STATIONS, the telephone rang. One of my coworkers—let's call him Brian—was working with me at the station, and I dared him to answer the phone and pretend that we were Papa Gino's (a pizza chain) rather than Barnes & Noble, and he did!

"Thank you for calling Papa Gino's. This is Brian. May I take your order?" The woman who had called sounded very confused. "This isn't Barnes & Noble?" Brian stayed in character throughout the entire exchange. Unfortunately, the caller never ordered a pizza.

I was so impressed with Brian's acting abilities that a few days later I dared him to do it again. Entertain me, Brian! As we were on our break, in the break room of all places, he answered the phone, again as a Papa Gino's employee, and began a long conversation with someone looking for particular book. Brian would actually try to sell pizzas to the customers, which just added to the confusion. And this time, as he made his daring sales pitch, I pretended to be an irate customer, "I said I wanted ham, goddamn it! Give me ham! Ham!" After which, I knocked over a metal folding chair onto its side.

A few days later, again during our break, I again dared him to answer the phone and pretend that we were Meineke Discount Mufflers. (I know they have since changed their name to Meineke Car Care Center, so eat me.) "Meineke Discount Mufflers, this is Brian speaking, how may I help you?" In order to assist in the illusion, I made silly noises one would hear in a mechanic's garage, e.g., vroom! fweeemvvv! fweeemvvv! clink-clank! As Brian continued with his phone conversation—I never understood why people just didn't hang up—I yelled, "OH MY GOD! MY TIE IS CAUGHT IN THE FAN BELT! AHHH!" Brian quickly ended his conversation with, "Oops. Got to go," and hung up the phone.