Mundanity

IT'S ME! Well, kind of. She has red hair...like me.  So me. Whatever.  Moving on.

I may or may not have made up the word that I used as my title, "mundanity." (Hint, I did.)  I kind of like it. Anyway.
So you're probably all wondering what I do to bring home the bacon. Let me assure you, it's nothing grand.  I...Am...A receptionist.  (Hence, my picture)

Or to be politically correct--an administrative assistant.  However, the heck with politically correct. Receptionist sounds better anyway. In no way do I want to be somebody's assistant, I'd much rather recept people.  Definitely.

Now, there is nothing glorious in reception. I answer the phone. I laminate. I open mail, sort it, and I put it in slots.  I also date stamp the mail.  I also do everyone else's mundane jobs that they don't want to do themselves becuase they're oh so busy playing solitare and signing up for Weight Watchers. Yes, I pick up the slack.  I recept.  I greet the few passerby that come into the office and make them put on visitor badges and such. It's a thankless job but someone's got to do it.

In my "mundanity" as I've termed it, I've begun a social experiment.  The Greats would be proud. Mainly Einstein, Roosevelt, Ben Franklin, and Oprah.  Brace yourselves. 

Here's the experiment:  Each time I get a caller, I usually say "Such-and-such business, how may I help you?" But one time I said, "Such-and-such business, this is Ginger, how may I help you?" When presented with the first greeting people jumped into their schpeal about how they needed this, and could I tell them this about themselves and what was the time of day, weather temperature, atmospheric pressure in Finland, and did I think they looked fat? However, when presented with my name, 95% of people (approximately, that is) would say, "Hi Ginger, this is Andrewski," and pause and wait for me to say hi. Like we were old golf buddies.

I don't know what my findings will yield.  Probably riches. Or acclaim.

But seriously.  Once I mentioned my name, it made me real, someone relatable, someone who cared.  I do the same thing when I make a call and receive a name: state the other person's name, introduce yourself, and then carry on.  It's not like it really matters in the long run, but in that moment we all like to pretend like the person on the other side of the line cares. 

Bottom line: I'm making history.  One small step for reception, one large leap for mankind.