Well, Actually ....

At work, I answer several different lines. One of those is a referral line for drug & alcohol issues. I can answer questions about certain substances, their effects, withdrawal, how long they're in your system to be tested .. but my main job on that line is to refer people to their own local treatment facilities. Any other reasons for the call through that line I can't really spend the time on.

Sometimes, though, people don't get that.

I got a call one night from a woman.

"Help line, this is Michelle, how can I help you?"

"You can listen to me," a female voice demanded.

"OK," I say, "but this is ... " I continue, ready to tell her that this isn't really a "chat" line.

"No interruptions," she stated.

I didn't have any time to say anything else before she began telling me her life story. Any time I tried to break in to tell her she was talking to the wrong line, she'd get mad at me for interrupting.

The more personal she got, the harder I tried to break in and tell her she needed to call another line.

17 minutes later, after hearing many, many very personal and embarassing things about this woman's life, she stopped talking.

"Well, don't you have anything to say to all that?" she demanded again, after about a second and a half silence.

"Not really," I replied, timidly, not sure I was truly allowed to speak yet.

"What!?" she screamed. "And why not!? Isn't that what you're here for!?"

"Well, actually, no." I said as quickly as possible. "This is a national drug and alcohol referral line, not a chat line."

"Well, you could have told me before I spilled my guts to you!" she screamed even more loudly.

:: dial tone ::

Sometimes all I can do is stare at the phone, looking dazed ...

Chelle