Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Can I help you: Tales of Receptionist blues!

I work in a rehabilitation center. I answer phones. Actually, I do a lot more than that, but that is the main job. And the phone rings at least 1,000 times a day. Calls from people who are messed up on drugs, who have fried most of their brain, who are unable to form a complete sentence. Calls for our infamous "Methadone" program, where switching addictions seems to be the answer, only because it is legal.
Calls from Spanish people, who expect me to speak Spanish, even though we are in America and only know English. Calls from people who are pissed that they were referred to our program, that they are on probation, that they are in trouble, even though THEY are the ones that got themselves in that certain trouble to begin with.
I get the brunt of their anger, their impolite ways, because I am the first person they are in contact with. Calls from people who are so lonely, that they want to tell me all about their angst. I have explicit stories about loved ones, beatings, prostitution, anal leakage, urine, drug use, etc. I had one guy over 80 explain to me that his reason for drinking after 14 years of sobriety was that he lost his "sex"...i.e. he had to have his balls clipped. It is sad really. I know their pain, I have been there, but I have yet to share it with the random girl that answers the phones!