Anti-Stall

Hello!? You Barbarian.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal

The weather was pleasant and the sky was literally blue. We got the circuit sharp at 8, the staff at the track was really kind and offered to show me around.

"Periwinkle, by the telephone." Erica read off the list of tasks she had assigned to everyone.

"Alrighty!" I beamed taking my spot, "What exactly am I doing?"

"There's a list right there, call all the numbers and make sure they received the programme for this weekend and if they're joining us this Sunday."

"Easy enough, I can get that done for you." I smiled.

"Some of them will have special requests, I'll need you to note them down in the register right there." Tim added pointing a register on top of which sat the neat sheets of paper we called our list.

A task that didn't seem too hard was suddenly strange now, I didn't know what to say. Was I supposed to say hello? Was I supposed to say my name? I looked at Tim completely frightened because Erica was long gone now and he too was preparing to leave.

"Nervous? I thought you loved talking!"

"I do! But what am I supposed to say?"

"Alright, let's do a practice run. Suppose I'm the person you're calling what would you say?"

"Hello, this is-"

"Hello!? You barbarian." He frowned at me, "Start again."

"Good morning! Mr.Timothy I'm Natalie, From F1 Hospitality. Just making sure you've received the programme for this weekend, is there anything I could assist you with?"

"Morning Natalie, I want a chocolate fountain for myself." He snickered

I stared at him because I had no idea how to answer such a question. What the hell am I supposed to say?

"You're supposed to say, alright sir. Let me check if that can be arranged, I will get back to you soon. Have a great day. Note it down and then at the end of your task come show it to one of us."

"Alright Tim, thanks! I got this. You can get back to your duties." I thanked him.

I picked up the receiver and dialled in the first phone number, the person on the other end was taking their sweet time to answer the call.

"Good morning Miss Margret, Natalie from F1 hospitality here."

"Morning."

"I just wanted to make sure you've received the programme for the weekend and if you have any special requests I'd gladly take them down."

"Yeah I've received the programme, no special requests just make sure my champagne is chilled." She laughed.

"Of course ma'am, have a great day."

"You too." She cut the call.

Well, that was easy! With the confidence the first call gave me I was ready to make the other calls. As I had hoped they went pretty smoothly except for a few where the people were in a bad mood and let their rage out at me.

I had only a couple calls left when the telephone line decided to not cooperate with me, it died. I asked Erica what I should do because I only had a few more calls to go and all the other lines were busy with the same task.

Use your phone, the company will settle the bill. She advised to me. I pulled my phone out of my pocket determined to get done with this task.

My phone couldn't connect to any cellular networks so I decided to step out for a bit. The minute I came back in, it disconnected.