Covid Calling
"Hello, Simon Dean speaking", I said. "Hello Dean, it's Simon speaking", he replied. Was it tinitus, a deaf ear or the fact that he worked in the miscommunications department of the same hotel as I did that caused confusion? His sloppy salutation infuriated me. We shared christian names, were supposed to be au fait with hospitality and yet he still couldn't wrap his tongue around a correct greeting. Meeting Simon in the lobby put the name to my face but the moniker was lost in translation via the phone. Without eye contact that either cements bona fide banter or feigns disinterest, speaking to a faceless being, a nobody, just a voice, can be risky business. That was the case for me in the 80s. Talking on the now near extinct 'land line' filled me with fear. I prospected through a copy of the White Pages for business, selected a company at random and made a cold call in the hope that someone would buy what I was selling. Rejection...