Jun 24 2009
psychic phone tag
A client contacted me a few days ago and I called, once and then twice before she finally called me back today. In between these calls was totally radio silence.
When I finally get her on the phone, the first thing she said to me is, in a dazed sort of way, “We’ve been playing phone tag for so long.” Now our voicemail has been acting up so I immediately said, “Oh, did you leave me a message?” because I wanted to know if it was still busted. I realize that with her not knowing this probably made me sound like an ass who was all “I called you but never called me, dimwit” but I assure you my intentions were pure.
“Oh, no,” she continues, like she is a little high and floating in a pool of whipped topping, “I never called you.”
So now I’m like, WTH? First I’m confused because I’m still trying to figure out if my voicemail is busted or not. Then I get a little annoyed as I comprehend. Not to be all literal but, if you never called me, how were we playing phone tag?
So, reaching for some form of clarity I said, “So, you never called? I just wanted to make sure because our voicemail is acting up.”
“No, I never called,” she says, like I am some lunatic who is accusing her of calling when she has no idea what a phone even is.
“Oh, OK. Cool,” I say because I am confused and it just seems best to move on. “So, let’s get down to business.” There is a long awkward silence and I’m afraid that she is mad at me or whatever so I start to blabber like a doofus and say, “Sorry, I just thought you meant that you had called me a few times when you said phone tag. I thought you were having trouble reaching me.”
In the same confused, dazed voice she replied, “I was trying to reach you. I mean, I didn’t call but I thought about it.”
Now, at this point, I just said, “Oh.” in a helpful way and barreled on ahead with business.
I should clarify that my rational thought is just that this woman is a space cadet who doesn’t think before she speaks. But what if she was being totally serious?
If someone tries to contact me psychically and fails, does that count as phone tag? Because I am pretty sure that is what just went on.
Hillary is an award winning playwright, fiction and non-fiction author best known for her play, The Love of Three Oranges which has been performed around the world. A Script Frenzy and NaNoWriMo ML, she loves connecting with other writers no matter what their experience levels. For the business side of blogging, publishing and selling, visit Hillary at The Whine Seller. See a complete list of Hillary’s blogs and books here.
