I just started a new job a few days ago. I'm a marketing assistant for The Academy. I call high school students, who have been recommended by Biola, to see if they're interested in coming to our summer leadership conference. Basically, I'm a telemarketer. I try not to call during dinner time, but sometimes it can't be helped.

I made calls for about an hour and a half this afternoon and I think I got three people to apply. At least, these three students were very interested in it. So that's good. It's easier to keep making calls if it feels productive.

Most people are willing to hear about The Academy, especially since we only call students with a strong academic record. But I talked to one father who was pretty annoyed at my calling. I called him first a few days ago to talk to his daughter. I told him a little about it and asked if he thought that would be something his daughter would be interestd in. He was kind of short with me and said, "Well, I guess you'll have to call back and ask her." So, I called back today and he answered again. I asked to speak with his daughter, and he said she wasn't at home. Before I could ask what a better time to call would be, he said, "Oh-I-have-to-go. Bye" *click* Something tells me it won't do any good to call them back.

I suppose I deserve a little bit of that for some stuff I did to a telemarketer who kept calling my home a couple of years ago. Story time: During the interterm of sophomore year (January 2003), my parents were gone for several days; so Gabe and I were holding down the fort and making sure Phillip and Abbey didn't burn it down. Anyway, during this time, we started getting calls from some telemarketer guy. At first we would just tell him that our parents weren't available to come to the phone. But he kept calling back every day. Often twice a day. I mean, it got to the point where we recognized his voice as soon as he said, "Hello." So the four of us had a meeting. And we talked about some ideas of things to say when he called. Creative things. I don't remember all the stuff we came up with, but here are a couple that we actually went through with. All four of us contributed to these ideas, but I was the one who ended up talking with him...

Conversation 7(or so):
Telemarketer: Hello, may I speak with Thomas Moothart, please?
Me: He's grounded. He isn't allowed to talk on the phone.
T: Uh, I'd like to speak with Mr. Moothart. Is he your father?
Me: Yes, he's my father. He likes to set a good example for us kids, so when he does something wrong, he grounds himself. He can't watch TV; and he can't come to the phone. I'm sorry.
T: Wow. Ok, I'll try back later.

Conversation 8 (or so):
Telemarketer: Hello, may I speak with Thomas Moothart, please?
Me: (not disguising my voice at all) This is Thomas.
T: Uh, may I speak with Mr. Moothart, please?
Me: I'm Mr. Moothart.
T: Well, um...
Me: It's the voice, isn't it? I'm sick of it! Nobody ever believes that I'm a man over the phone! *click*

Yeah. I'm pretty sure I deserve anything I get during this new job.