working pains.

I just wanted to share a quickie about how I was almost famous. You really had to be there, but I'll tell it anyway. At work we listen to Star 98.5 religiously because my boss Nate likes to play Tuesday Trivia on Tuesday mornings. I usually work those "trivia" mornings with him and he realllllly likes the thrill of being the first one to call in with the answer to the question. Major dork. Since you can only win ONCE every 30 days, he'll sometimes have me call in and I go through the whole going on live air to answer some bizarre question ("What country borders Egypt to the west?"), stuff I don't really know, but he does somehow, as a history major I assume. Turns out it's Libya and I won tanning passes, but I used Cassie's name since I didn't want to use mine. Nate was psyched! Well last Tuesday, the prize was tickets to see Thriving Ivory in Murray, UT. Nate doesn't even know who they are, but he knew the answer to the question so he called immediately after it was asked (What actor plays Sid Vicious, Beethoven, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jim Gordon in Batman? Gary Oldman. who knew?). He won, again, and because he has so much enthusiasm when he wins, the radio dj's now know him by name. 

Ten minutes later the phone rings and I pick it up. It was the radio station calling for Nate so I give Nate the phone and go back to work. Turns out they wanted a recording of Nate saying "My name is Nate and this is my Star 98.5"--as a way to "personalize" their station. yeah yeah. Then they insisted that I do the same thing, since ya know, I work with Nate and must share his excitement and love for the station. NOT. They asked me what my name was and I told them Vanessa Grow. They thought I said Vanessa Gross. So I just went along with saying my name was Vanessa Gross. 

Shaking, I spoke into the phone "My name is Vanessa Gross and this is my star 98.5." Assuming I would get it on the first try like Nate, they said, okay do it one more time, but slow down. So I said it slower. They made me do it again, but with more enthusiasm. Okay.... So I said it with fake enthusiasm that clearly translated to the other end. I started to get frustrated that I had to keep doing it over and over. Then the DJ was like, "just say it like you're excited to tell your friend." WTF? Who does that??? So I just totally cheeseballed it one more time and they were like "Good job, that works." Click. 

I was at a loss of words after I hung up. How does crap like that happen to me? I have never been forced to do anything so ridiculous in my life. We both almost died of laughing and I peed my pants a little. I hope Pocatello is a better place knowing that Vanessa Gross listens to Star 98.5.