I went to a Catholic high school where service hours were required for graduation. If an event was canceled or ran short, we still got full credit. Even the nuns understood that it’s tough to schedule service projects. There was one service project I signed up for every year though and never tried to cheat my hours and would even “work” overtime–the phone-a-thon. This was where we would call parents and alumni of Regina. We had a set conversation that we were always supposed to have. Catholics are big on confessing your sins, so here it goes…there are a few that go with the event.
Even back in the 90s, I hated conflict. I would avoid it at all costs. So, when someone said they didn’t want to donate money, I would tell them thank you and hang up. This was not in the script. The script had me asking three more times after the first no. Sorry, but this was never going to happen for me. I’m not begging people to do what they clearly don’t want to do. That’s confession number 1.
Confession number 2 is the real reason why I always picked this event and would even “work” late. Way back before cell phones, there was this thing called long distance. It was crazy expensive to call people who lived far away (or even just an hour away depending on the area code). Only time we could call would be after 9:00 or Sundays. That’s when the rates were the lowest. You see, one of my good friends lived across the country. That meant I rarely got to speak to him. Except for the phone-a-thon. There were tons of long distance calls being made to Regina alumni and family, so I just added one more. I would call my friend in Idaho every time. And I wouldn’t even worry with how long we talked. How did no one notice I was making personal calls (to be fair, everyone made personal calls, mine just happened to be long distance)? Well, we all got our own private offices to make the calls. No one had any clue what we were doing in our offices. If I started to run out of time for my list, I would write, “no answer” on my sheet next to names I didn’t get to so they would be added to the next group of people to make calls list.
Here’s the thing. I regret none of it. With confession, you’re supposed to repent for your sins, but I’m good. There are not many things quite as annoying as telemarketers, so I was really just saving people from being annoyed. And I got to chat with one of my oldest friends.
So, if there’s a phone-a-thon for Key Club, you can bet that I’m having my kid sign up. Nothing is long distance now and the phone is pretty much glued to her, but it’s all about nostalgia!