Twenty years ago I volunteered with an organization that helped out in the community and performed quite a few "jobs" that ordinary people didn't want to do. When there was a disaster, we would assist the Red Cross by providing personnel to help out at the shelters, working the phones, and helping out any way we could. The organization did a lot of good, and I had a lot of fun participating.

One thing I did on the side at the time was helping out at an answering service company that one of the other guys worked at. Now that was an experience I will never forget. We would sit in these cubicles and basically answer phones all night. We had a chart in front of us, to help guide us depending on who the caller was trying to reach.

Many different professionals used the answering service, including doctors, dentists, contractors, and even a couple "exotic dancers", which I thought was just really weird. I guess anybody could use one, depending on how busy they are.

One thing I don't like about answering services is the people you talk to don't always make you feel "comfortable" when you make your call. For example, when we called our pediatrician when our son was sick a few years ago, the girl who was answering the phone did not understand the urgency of the situation. Then again, she may have thought we were calling to have our bathroom remodeled or something and followed the wrong flow chart.

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