Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Crack in the Wall

I like to call my little corner of the office "Circumspection Circle". We don't talk to one another; we don't reach out to one another; we just nod and move about our business like good worker bees.

The solitude kind of empowers me; I focus. In my headphone world, surrounded by my walls, I research, I study. But I don't talk. People don't come by too much; they're actually working. I'm sure that'll change soon - as I start going to meetings and acutally working on assignments, but for now, the throb of the air conditioner and the low hum of voices filter over my walls, my companions that remind me there's a world outside my metal and plastic fortress.

BBBBBRRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGG. The phone shattered my concentration; broke down the walls. The rest of the world came crashing back in through my walls.

"This is Brian."

"Hi there." Her voice was girlish and playful. "How are you."

"I'm fine; and you?" At this point, I had no idea who in the hell this was. Outside of the office, only one person has my work number.

"Don't you know who this is?"

"No. Sorry, I don't"

"How can you send an e-mail to someone without knowing who it is?" Well, that's easy, I thought, I frequently e-mail Ashley Judd, Kate Beckinsdale and Charlize Theron and I don't know them; however, their lawyers? Whole different story. At this point, I'm looking around, seeing if this is some sort of prank.

"Well, I didn't send you an e-mail."

"Your name is Brian? Well, the e-mail I got had this phone number."

"What was the name on it?"

"I don't know. You work in an office right? Are there other people around?" I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but how can this e-mail NOT HAVE A NAME ON IT? And more importantly, if it didn't, why is this fool calling the number on it?

"Look. I don't know who you're trying to reach. Don't you have a name?"

"I used to know a Todd there." I grabbed my phone list.

"Nope. No Todd here. Sorry I couldn't help you." And she hung up.

Hearing no laughter, I replaced my headphones and dug back into the book.

3 comments:

Farrell said...

I knew you would miss me and my stories!
As for the girl, what a weirdo! What did she want anyway? On the other hand...was her voice sexy? Maybe you should have asked her to send her picture...

Gordon D said...

I have to ditto what Farrell said, although I probably would have improvised and said something like,

"Oh, well, I just wanted to confirm our lunch appointment for tomorrow - where and when is convenient for you?"

That way, if she were a stalker/psycho, I could have an easy out - it's public, and there's the added, "It's only business"

Brian said...

Too much crazy. I have more, but I don't want to write about it tonight. Perhaps tomorrow.

All I can say is I'm avoiding potentially psychotic women. And she sounded nuts.