While I was in college, I was lucky enough to spend a semester abroad. I studied at Oxford, and I worked for a small financial firm in London. I worked as a secretary for an irate Scotsman named Stewart. In part because Stewart was a very cranky man who made matters worse by keeping a bottle of whiskey in his office drawer, I was an awful secretary.
I've been reminded in recent days of my most humiliating moment as Stewart's awful secretary. The phone rang one morning, and...
Me: "Good morning. Stewart Murray's office."
Caller: "Yes, this is Raj from Golden Fax."
Honest. I swear that's what he said.
Me: "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?"
Annoyed caller: "This is Raj. From Golden Fax."
Me, in a desperate whisper: "Stewart, there's someone named Raj on the phone. He says he's from Golden Fax."
Annoyed Stewart: "Who?"
Annoyed me: "Raj. From Golden Fax."
Really Annoyed Stewart: "Do you mean Roger? Rodge? He's calling from Goldman Sachs."
Me: "Yeah, that sounds better. It's Rodge. From Goldman Sachs."
While Stewart and Rodge chatted, I hit Google hard and gave myself a serious lesson on investment banking.
2 comments:
I LOVE this story!! As soon as I saw the headline I started to giggle! I think that happened right before I came out to visit you. Poor thing - I just remember going across the street to Pret and buying you a sandwich since you'd decided to stop eating lunch each day because it was too expensive. Ahhh good times. I can think of a few other stories you could share on here... ;)
Oh no. Didn't we all do dumb stuff like that when we were young? My first day as a waitress and old guy who came in daily for his ration of eighteen cups of coffee told me he had a hole in his coffee cup. I thought he was serious. (He just needed a refill.)
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