Prank Call

I make very few outside calls from work.  In fact, I make very few inside calls.  The people I work with prefer to communicate by e-mail and IM.  So, not having used the phone in a month, it was no surprise when I picked it up and found it to be dead as a doornail.  I've had the same problem with the phone twice before and although I'm told nothing seems to be wrong with it, it works for about a day or two, and then turns back into it's petulant, non-functioning self.

Ever the optimist, I hoped for a minute that everyone else's phones were out too, so I went next door to another cube and tried the phone there.  "Let's see ... 9 - 1 - etc."  Shit, it worked.

I would have to call I.T. and go through the same bullshit I did last time to get it to work again.  But I had other things to do, so I occupied myself and forgot about the phone.

About 10 minutes later, a panicked looking woman appeared at my opening and asked me if I knew where "Mary Smith" was.  It seems she had received an emergency call from her family.  I had talked to "Mary" that morning and knew she was going to be in another building that day and that she could find her there.

While we were standing in the hallway, a security guard rushed up to us and asked if we knew where "Mary Smith" sat.  It seems that there had been a 911 call that had originated from her phone about 15 minutes ago.

"Blink" ... It took me about that long to put two and two together, and then another second to 'fess up.  I told the rent-a-cop about my foray into "Mary's" office and that I must have put another "1" on that 9 - 1.  Then I looked at the "panicked woman" and wondered how the fuck she had garbled the 911 message into "family fucking emergency".  I mean ... really!

The guard took my name, I guess to put on their homeland security watch list, and all was right with the world again.  It was then I realized that I was not embarrassed about the incident.  Not in the slightest. And I thought that a mere 5 years ago, I would have been so mortified that I would have crawled into a hole.

As they say, times change.  And as I've said before, age has it's benefits.  Like you don't get blown out by the occasional social faux paux.

I'm kinda liking this "getting old" shit.