Currently, I am living in one of the good housing complexes in Redmond, WA. Any maintenance problem within the apartment is taken care of pronto. I am really happy and have no complaints about the management. (at least till now, I just made it home 2 weeks back) I had a water leakage problem this Sunday and decided to call them to get it repaired. And my call was transferred to some central place and a woman unknown to me answered my call.

And that’s when the story begins.

She asks me for my first name. I give her the answer I have given to a million customer service representatives before. I give her the answer I have given to cashiers behind counters. I give her the answer I have given to bank tellers. I give her the answer everyone understands. “S… H… R… U… T as in Texas… I”. She wants to confirm it with me so goes into “S as in Sarah… H as in Harry” routine. Just a slight problem though. She says “V as in Victor” in place of T. So, I politely tell her that she has got my name right mostly except for 2nd last letter which is not V as in Victor but T as in Texas. “Oh!”, she exclaims, “B as in Boy”. I am sure my expression at that moment must have been priceless. “No, T as in Texas, as in ummmm… teapot”, I say in an unamused voice. “You mean V as in Victor”, she says a bit irritatedly. I lose my cool here. I ask her sternly if she is even paying attention to me, if she is listening to what I am saying. She informs me (equally irritated) some letters are hard to tell apart, esp. on phone. Of course, I could have said many things to her, but decided against it. I give it one more try, “T as in Texas, the state where Dallas is”. She cuts in “Oh! you mean T as in Texas” before I can tell her Austin is also a part of Texas. “Yeah, perfect, thats it”, I say in a staccato manner. What I have been saying all this while is what I think though.

She asks me for my last name and I spell out each letter for her. She does not reconfirm it. (thankfully for both of us) She then asks for my apartment number, “J… for Joker”, I say. Of course, The Dark Knight impression has cut deep in me.

But, yeah I am not amused. This conversation was neither pretty nor expected.