That Janie Girl

One day, I got a call from a consultant. I’ll call him Lonnie.

Lonnie: Hey, Janie, I want to work for ABC Oil Company through your firm.

Janie: Lonnie! That’s great! (I went through our list of benefits. He was excited.) Okay, who do I need to call?

Lonnie: You need to call James at ABC and tell him I’m going to be working under your banner.

Janie: Consider it done.

I called James and left a message. Not once, not twice, but three times. Two days later, I get another call from Lonnie.

Lonnie: Hey, Janie. I’m going to work for ABC Oil Company, but I have to work through my old firm. James is making me.

Janie: What the HELL?I understand, Lonnie, don’t worry, we’ll get it all fixed sometime.

Lonnie: Thanks for understanding. Another thing – James said for me to “Tell that Janie girl to quit calling me.”

Janie: Gotcha, Lonnie. No problem. (In 23 years, this.is.a.first. I'm freaking out. He seriously doesn't want me to call him? I can't believe that! I've never met him!).

In my old job, if someone had a problem getting through a door, or establishing a relationship, they would send me in to "pave the way" as it were. And I enjoyed a near-perfect success rate.

Three days later, I’m in the offices of ABC Oil Company, delivering breakfast. I happen to notice James’ office is open, so I step in the door, thinking I’ll leave a business card on his desk. Only one thing’s wrong – he’s there! What do I do now?

Only one thing to do…roooooooollllllllllllll with it!

Janie: Hey, James! I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m "that Janie girl" that was calling you all the time about Lonnie.

James: Hey, Janie! (He cracks up laughing, thank God!) It’s nice to meet you. Actually, I’ve met you before, just didn’t put two and two together. I worked at the last shoot and you were competing.

Janie: Oh, yeah! I knew you looked familiar!

He then explains to me why Lonnie had to stay under his former firm – that he had taken medical leave, and needed to come back to work under that same firm. I totally understood his thinking.

The next morning, I went to breakfast with several of his coworkers, and told them all the “Tell that Janie girl to quit calling me” story. They got a big kick out of that, went back to the office, and harrassed James mightily. Poor guy, he'll probably never live over that.

It's a small oilfield out here. And needless to say, my new name has spread all over the patch - they're all calling me...