A few embarrassing years ago, in his unrelenting attempt to turn me into a bona fide businesswoman, my husband, Carl, finally succeeded in coaxing me to help generate business for our young marketing firm. So one perfectly fine afternoon, I boldly announced to him that I was ready to make my very first sales call. Feeling pleased and proud, he took out his list of all potential clients and handed it to me. For my first call, Carl picked a previous client, a gym owner, who he had already introduced me to, a couple of months prior. A little nervous but confident enough, this is how my brief conversation with Roger(not his real name) went…

Ring…Ring…Ring… "Thank you for calling(can’t say the business name here), this is Roger, how may I help you?"

Joselyn: Hi Roger this is Joselyn, Carl’s wife… Remember me?

Roger: Of course, Joselyn. How have you been?

Joselyn: Busy but doing well, thank you. Listen, I was wondering if I could meet with you maybe Wednesday or Thursday this week, that is if you want to run your ad again with us this month.

Roger: Sure why not. Just come by any day this week and we’ll go over what changes I want on my flier this time.

Joselyn: (Momentarily at a loss for words from the initial shock of making my first sale, and over the phone at that, I managed to…) Umm, okay, I’ll definitely do that. Anyway, um, thank you so much for your time. I know you’re, um, busy so I guess I’ll let you go. I’ll see you, um, sometime this week then, right?

Roger: Right. Well, see you later Joselyn and you have a great afternoon, okay?

Joselyn:(Still somewhat dazed…) Oh I will, thank you, and you do the same Roger. I LOVE YOU!

C L I C K ! ! !

Who hung up on who, I’ll never know… For the briefest moment, there was only a deafening sound of silence. As I struggled to regain my composure, I glanced up and saw my husband’s face turned the color of ketchup. Not from anger, of course, but from sheer mortification. Ha! Ha! Ha!