My Favorite Phone Call Ever
I'm working on a story for Slashfood about a man who claims to have found a piece of a rat's jaw inside a package of frozen vegetables he bought at a local Walmart.
So, I google the man's name and come up with one listing in Texas... I don't take the time, as a good reporter perhaps should have, to figure out if the town it says this man lives in is anywhere near the one that is listed as his hometown in the local news report.
But I put on my headset and dial the number. A pleasant, older-sounding man answers the phone and I introduce myself and tell him why I'm calling... A man with his name says he found a rat jawbone in his veggies.
"Do you think the Democrats did it?" he asks me, joking, but I get the feeling also somewhat serious.
I have no idea how to respond to this... "Uh, I don't know, sir," I say, wishing he had let me make a graceful exit when I told him I must have the wrong number.
"I bet those Senators are sneaking them in there for us Texans," he says.
I'm not even sure where to go with this. If I play along, what the hell am I talking about with this old man who is probably just screwing with me because I happened to call him on a random Monday afternoon. But I hate being impolite when I make work calls, so I just kind of flounder until he laughs and says goodbye.
Weird. Weird. Weird.
So, I google the man's name and come up with one listing in Texas... I don't take the time, as a good reporter perhaps should have, to figure out if the town it says this man lives in is anywhere near the one that is listed as his hometown in the local news report.
But I put on my headset and dial the number. A pleasant, older-sounding man answers the phone and I introduce myself and tell him why I'm calling... A man with his name says he found a rat jawbone in his veggies.
"Do you think the Democrats did it?" he asks me, joking, but I get the feeling also somewhat serious.
I have no idea how to respond to this... "Uh, I don't know, sir," I say, wishing he had let me make a graceful exit when I told him I must have the wrong number.
"I bet those Senators are sneaking them in there for us Texans," he says.
I'm not even sure where to go with this. If I play along, what the hell am I talking about with this old man who is probably just screwing with me because I happened to call him on a random Monday afternoon. But I hate being impolite when I make work calls, so I just kind of flounder until he laughs and says goodbye.
Weird. Weird. Weird.
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