Friday, July 31, 2009

Nathan the Woman

As you may have read before, people often mistake me for a woman on the phone.

Geez, now that I see that in print, it's a little mortifying. Should I be more embarrassed about this?

I call it "getting ma'am-ed." Whenever I hang up from a call at work after someone calls me "ma'am" that's what I tell everyone.

"Hey, I just got ma'am-ed."

This has been the story of my life ever since I can remember. Here's an example of how most of the conversations went when I would answer the phone (FYI, this is when I was in high school, so my voice had already gone down an octave).

Me: Hello?

Clueless Caller: Hi! Is this Sandra? (Sandra is not my mother's name, but I'm a fan of pseudonyms on this blog.)

Me: No ... but I can get her ... (This was my feeble attempt to help them save face. This way, all they would have to do is say, "okay" or "sure" and they would never have to know their mistake.)

Clueless Caller: Oh ... Is this one of her daughters?

Me: Nope. (At this point, they've dug their own hole, so I stopped trying to avoid the embarrassment.)

Clueless Caller: Oh ... well, who is this?

Me: This is her son, Nathan.

Clueless Caller: Oh!

Me: Yeah, I'll get my mom for you.

Despite my best efforts, these calls never ended well.

4 comments:

Mindi said...

people always think i sound like a man--or, EVEN BETTER, a smoker who's about 5 packs into it.

ps i'm stealing your 'eternal debate' pic. AWESOME.

Shorty said...

I've heard that taking extra male hormones could deepen a voice, however you might have massive extra hair growth, too! Not sure if that side effect would help you to appreciate the benefit.

Loralee and the gang... said...

Can you fake lower your voice when you answer your phone?
:~D

Nathan said...

I wish I could fake it. I try, but I think it only makes me sound like a 14 year old trying to get into a nightclub.