Some days the mind wanders . . .

In my younger days I worked at a small insurance brokerage in Edmonton. Insurance is one of those necessary things that people do not pay much attention to until they need it. Being an insurance broker is not one of those exciting jobs. Most of the time it is painfully dull. There were, and still are, times that I have the attention span of . . . something with a short attention span.

One hot August day nothing was happening and I seemed to be the only one in the office. There were, and still are, times where I try to inject a bit of humour into situations. Mainly to amuse myself.

The phone rang. A voice on the other end said they needed a quote on car insurance. I replied that I can give you a quote but I cannot sell you any. The voice on the other end asked why that was. I said that we just ran out. The insurance was on back order and I phoned our supplier and they promised us we would get our order off the truck first thing tomorrow morning. So if you could wait until tomorrow morning I will have a shipment in and I can give you a call to let you know as soon as it arrives and sell you a policy.

I thought for sure the person on the other end would get a laugh out of that one. Not a chance. The person sincerely and happily thanked me and said they would call right away the next day and hung up. That caught me off guard. Thankfully no one overheard that exchange. I cannot remember if the person ever called back.

There were, and still are, times I have a bit of fun with clients. I try to be a bit smarter about it these days.