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The Ballad of Phil

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  • The Ballad of Phil

    I'm not sure where to put this, since he's not sucky, but I'm sure a friendly neighborhood spider-mod will move it if needed.

    Most of you know I work in a call center for a large TV/Internet provider, as such we of course get all the nasty, angry, cheap, stupid, mean people you'd expect a place like that to attract.

    And then there's Phil.

    Phil, by our best estimation, is probably in his early 20's but he has the mind of a 10-12 year old at best. He had an accident with a Jet-Ski that left him with a head injury and is the reason he's not all the way there to this day. He also had a close friend of his get shot to death by a jealous husband as a result of a love triangle gone awry. We know all this because Phil calls us pretty much every day just to talk. He does have an account with us ( I suspect his mom manages it, but it's kept up to date pretty well), so it's not like there's no business to tend to. Mostly though, he just calls in to say hi. He also has a crush on one of the overnight girls, but he understands to keep it professional when he's talking to us. He's also a big wrestling fan, he was all excited when I told him I was going to a WWE TV taping a few months ago. WWE doesn't go to his small town in West Virgina and he's always saying how he wants to come up and see a show here in town.

    I don't get to talk to him as much anymore, as he usually calls later in the evening and my shift ends at 9 PM now. When I was new and worked to 11 or 12 I'd talk to him usually several times a week. Sometimes it got on my nerves, but now that it's more of a rare occurrence I kind of miss it. I did get him the other day, and I didn't recognize the voice at first. Just as his account popped up (our computers were slow that day) I heard the familiar "you must be new", which is what he says to the new hires who haven't talked to him before. I let him know he was right on with his UFC prediction he made the last time we talked, and that next time I was going to bet on whoever he said would win.

    He's become sort of our unofficial call center mascot, as we all realize that calling us is probably the high point of his day. The notes on his account show him calling in on every holiday "to wish his friends at Companyname a happy *whatever* day". Some of us have even become protective of him, like when he told someone about how his friends are taking him Jet-Ski'ing again and my co-worker was going into Fatherly Advice mode to tell him to be careful because that's how he had his accident before. Sometimes we think his friends keep him around just for their amusement, but if anything bad happened there would probably be a bus full of call center employees beating someone's doors down.

    I guess it's nice to be assured there's at least one person out there who isn't calling in to scream and yell at you, even if he does call every day.
    "You know, there are times when it's a source of personal pride not to be human." - Hobbes

  • #2
    He sounds rather sweet. Not many people call in on holidays just to wish the employees there a happy *holiday*. It's not like he's annoying or harrassing (from the sounds of the OP) and I think it's awesome how you guys chat with him and give him advice.
    Actually chokes me up a little - man, I'm a soft touch!
    The report button - not just for decoration

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    • #3
      That is awesome. I hope this doesn't come out wrong, but the world needs more people like him.

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      • #4
        We have a little old lady who does that at my company. She gets lonely and calls in just to chat. Its fun to talk to her because she always tells stories from when she was younger and she's just hilarious.

        Actually, I should look at her account because I haven't talked to her in a few weeks, usually I talk to her once a week. I hope shes ok.

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        • #5
          aww thats so sweet!
          Be like the flower that perfumes the very hand that crushes it.

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          • #6
            Wow! Awesome story.

            Phil sounds a lot like "Danny", a young man from a local group home that called my brother's music store about once a week for years.

            Danny would call and ask whoever answered the phone if they had "any of those keyboards that make 'spacey' sounds." He meant synthesizers. Then he would always ask "Where are they made?" and when told "Japan", Danny would ask "How do you spell that?" They had the same conversation with Danny every single week.

            The guys would then give him all the technical specs on their most expensive synthesizer, in excruciating detail. Danny was on social assistance and couldn't afford even the cheapest keyboard. It was clear that he just liked hearing all about them, so the good folks at my brother's store would oblige him.

            The weekly phonecall went on for years. One day, my brother and a few of his employees were downstairs and heard the front door chime. A second later, they heard a voice ask "Do you have any keyboards that make spacey sounds?" All three of them ran up the stairs two at a time - Danny has actually come in person!

            Sure enough, one of the social workers for his home decided to take Danny to the store to see the synthesizers in person for his birthday. They spent over an hour showing him around and letting him play with the floor models.

            My brother said that the only bad thing to come out of that day was that Danny never called the store again.

            He left so happy, I guess he just never felt the need to call back.

            If you have to ask, it's probably better posted at www.fratching.com

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            • #7
              Boozy, that is a great story.

              I love hearing stories like these.

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              • #8
                We've got some fun clients like that here. One guy owns a summer home not too far from the shop, and we've done some odds and ends for him. He'll call on occasion from Florida just to check on the weather up here. It's always fun to have a chat with him.

                There was also an older man who came in to get his kitchen redone. The first day he came by, I was by myself in the office and having a really crappy day. He started out talking about his kitchen, but then the conversation wandered into an overview of his life story. The man is in his 80's and has raced cars, worked on planes, owned a machine shop, you name it! Plus, his wife is an artist. He just loves to talk, and I was completely fascinated by his stories. He must have been in the office for over an hour, and then I showed him the shop and let him talk to one of the guys. That probably lasted another hour. But, I have to say, my day seemed SOOO much better after meeting him! (And his kitchen turned out great in the end, too.)
                Certifiable Interior Designer
                (Passed the NCIDQ Exam - Summer 2008)

                It's hard to shoot zombies with a cat on your lap!

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                • #9
                  Quoth Interior Desecrator View Post
                  The man is in his 80's and has raced cars, worked on planes, owned a machine shop, you name it!
                  I LOVE hearing about or meeting people like this guy....people who have done all kinds of things with their lives, rather than the normal boring everyday thing that most people do.

                  (Amusingly, the more I meet them, the more I realize that I am slowly but surely becoming one of those guys. I am not boasting, but sometimes I truly am amazed by my own life. It's a great feeling!)

                  "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                  Still A Customer."

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                  • #10
                    I had an internship at a small opera company a couple years ago and we had a guy call weekly who sounds a lot like that. He was super super sweet, his name was Daniel, and he was one of the biggest opera fans you could imagine. I think he was younger, around 17 or 18, and definately handicapped in some way (never found out the details). He always wanted to talk about the singers he had recently seen, came to every production, and knew more about the opera world than I ever could. He was a really amazing person, and it was so nice to talk to someone so unabashedly passionate about opera, especially considering his handicap.

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                    • #11
                      It's been awhile since I've answered the phones, but... our cable system has interactive games. We used to have a caller who called nightly to report his progress on his favorite games.

                      One part of me thought of him as a harmless enough, almost fun, caller. The wonk part of me couldn't help but think that no matter how you measure cost per call ($25 per call or $1 or minute), this guy was chewing up company money at a fantastic rate. Similar to the guy who's had over 1,000 contacts this year alone.

                      Overnights were the worst... the number of people who just wanted somebody to talk to was amazing.
                      I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. -- Raymond Chandler

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                      • #12
                        Quoth Interior Desecrator View Post
                        The man is in his 80's and has raced cars, worked on planes, owned a machine shop, you name it!
                        I have a guy like that who comes into my shop. His name's Sandy and he used to be a Catholic priest but fell in love with a girl in the congregation. Rather than be hypocritical, he quit the priesthood to marry her. I learnt that she died a few months ago from Alzheimer's. He collects and restores clocks and watches now so I always keep an eye out for anything "good" coming into the shop. Apparently he comes in on my days off to find out when I'll be in. It makes my day when he comes in.
                        Idiot-proofing myself since 1997

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