caroworld

The phones around here are insane. I don't mean that people are calling, because they're not much. I mean they're insane, retarded.

First off, there are two of them at my desk. I'm not sure why. It's not really that busy here.

But both are usable. One or the other will ring every once in a while. My little office is about the size of a large cubicle. So I have a phone ready for me if I'm at my computer...or if I wander a foot away to...not being at my computer.

OK, not only do customers ring, but sometimes the phones ring themselves. Like they're possessed. I pick it up and ...nothing. A weird tone. There's also some ancient looking switchboard with a gazillion extenions right above one of the phones. Very helpful. I've used it all of once since I've been here.

So I asked my boss, Chad, about the tones I hear sometimes. He told me that when people call in, sometimes they give up on our recorded message (whatever for?) and hang up, but the call will still go through and ring to me...where I'll hear tones. Here's a little office lingo -- we call these phone calls "from Tony." Aren't we hilarious here at Douglas Electronics?

Oh, he also said sometimes Tony calls after I've checked my voicemail. Or if I hang up a call but the other person doesn't (as in, I'm on hold and give up on someone else's recorded message. It's Tony karma for me!)

Tony will also give me a ring if someone in the office tries to call me while I'm on another line (and yet, I have two phones now, don't I?) Or if too many calls come in at once, there's Tony. If he misses me, he might call. I'm popular over here, you know. I have two phones.

You can see I'm keeping myself fascinated with the ins and outs of working here.

What made me laugh most was figuring out how to listen to voicemail when the little message light isn't on. I tried everything. Tony kept calling me back. Finally I found it in the manual.

"Simply press SPKR. 1-7-9. Wait for the recorded message. Press pound. Have your mailbox code and password ready. Listen for further instructions..."

Now how could I miss something so simple as "SPKR 1-7-9"?

I forgot, there are actually three phones at my desk -- one is a cordless. I can forward the other two to it and then I am insured to never be without a phone. The sucky thing is transfering calls from the cordless takes more work than it's worth and Tony rings with vengeance everytime I try.

Must go back to work. (Phone call.)