Seriously…

Actual phone conversation at work recently:

ring ring

me: hello, this is Amy

{10 seconds of pure silence}

person from another department (pfad): ummm…. yeahh.. uumm….

(now I speak to this person regularly so I know who it is from her voice, but I wait)

pfad: umm, yeah… um, Amy… . yeah, it’s pfad.

me: hi

pfad: yeah, umm… {silence} ummm…. we should talk about… um…
yeah…. umm…. let me pull it up… yeah. um… {more silence}

(I have no idea what she wants to talk about and I’ve decided I’m not going to help her out by just asking. I’m facinated to see how long she will go on like this with no focus)

pfad: you see… um,, well.. yeah.. the thing is…

(I’m thinking to myself: this person found my number, dialed it, waited for me to answer and the whole time hadn’t put a thought together as to how to explain what she needed to talk to me about. Well, I’m willing wait)

pfad: yeah…. well. do you know what I’m saying?

me: no

pfad: yeah…. umm…

(I begin thinking about the woman next to me on the train this morning. She had on purple mascara. Are colored mascaras back? Where does one even get them these days?)

pfad: umm, the thing is we need to {extended pause} talk about, um…

(I’m seriously considering asking her if she is high right now)

me: what is it?

pfad: testing

me: you mean testing for project X for which there is a meeting scheduled tomorrow?

pfad: um… well, yeah.

me: why don’t we talk about it tomorrow at the meeting with the whole team

pfad: ok

Seriously, I can’t take it sometimes. I don’t know how I don’t flip out at people.