I don't usually call my dad, as it's an international call, there's a time difference and I get to talk to him on the weekends - he and my mom will get on the speakerphone to reaffirm we can bicker the way we did during the high school years. But sometimes I feel like telling him something ("Maybe you and Mommy need to get off Eric's back..."), so I'll call him at work. Like last night...
Jen: Hi, may I speak to Paul Chung?
Receptionist: Who is calling?
Jen: Jennifer Chung...his daughter.
Receptionist: Who?
Jen: Paul's daughter, Jennifer.
Receptionist: Okay, let me see...please hold.
[Holding for 3 minutes]
Receptionist: I'm sorry, he is on another call. May I take a message?
Jen: Okay. This is his daughter, Jennifer.
Receptionist: What is your name?
Jen: Jennifer Chung. C-H-U-N-G. Like Paul Chung. He's my father.
Receptionist: Jennifer Cheng?
Jen: Chung! Like Paul Chung. I'm his daughter, he's my father. He's my dad! He's my baba.
Receptionist: Um, okay.
Jen: Really, Paul Chung is my dad.
Of course, my dad called two minutes later, saying I should have been transferred, etc., he wasn't really on the phone, the receptionist doesn't usually deal with English speaking callers. I guess it could have been my fault and all, being a Twinkie-Asian-American-Fobabee hybrid, but it totally played into my paranoia about who I am.
My dad is an environmental consultant. His work is pretty cool.
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Your conversation with the receptionist reminds me of a made-for-TV movie title Danny and I came up with during our shoot in LA. "He's my father, but he's not my dad." We're looking for a director. Once we actually write the script. We think Lifetime will pick it up.
Nice. Where is my Tiny Factory t-shirt?
I won't share what your father did after you spoke with him on this post. Had I not stop him in time, it would've been embaressing. Thanks to his usual laid back attitude, he hasn't actually DONE anything. Well, your call to Dad...thanks for the thought.
This story was shared with us over Mother's Day lunch with the whole family today! Made for quite few laughs. You wonder how some receptionists got their job in the first place ... I've had similar experiences when calling my hubby! Cheers, Jen, keep up the good work.
Hey, Jen, really neat "blog" you have here. First time for me to read it so I have some catching up to do. Your dad's more than an environmental consultant - he makes our water drinkable, but we're not in that district. Too bad! At least now I know what your generation calls a "banana" (yellow on the outside and white inside) - a Twinkie-Asian-American-Fobabee. What's a "fobabee"?
Keep up the great work!