We get Calls

Part of this business is receiving bizarre phone calls, many outside business hours.

For example, yesterday I answered the phone around 6:00 a.m.  And a woman I don’t know greeted me with “I’m going to sue you.”

I wasn't alarmed because someone threatens to sue about once a month. But I was curious enough to ask why.

“Because you told my boyfriend I was getting high,” she replied. She slurred her words, indicating she was still buzzed on something.

I spent a while calmly assuring her that her boyfriend – a TLC employee - didn't need my insight to figure out if she was high. He could discover that with a phone call. Then she told me about the restraining order she was getting to keep him from calling. When I suggested a simpler solution might be to change her number - or simply not answer - she hung up.

A few minutes later my wife asked me to listen to a voice message that had come in at 3:00 a.m. from a man who was incredibly drunk.

We listened for a moment to his ranting. Among his comments were that he could tell by her first name that she was fat.  He also shared that he couldn't have sex because he had genital herpes and thus couldn't find a girlfriend. He added that he’d figured out by my wife’s voice message that she had Tourette syndrome. He also said he’d turned down a friend’s suggestion that he wear high heels - because he was already too tall.

Years ago these communications used to irritate me. But today I realize that part of helping others into recovery is to sometimes listen to their ramblings and hope that maybe they’ll maybe call one day when they’re not so out of it.