Yea yea,,,,,,I dare ask, ‘what is your profession?’


I recently bumped into a fuming friend. After I calmed her down with an offer of expensive coffee, she narrated how she had just had a session with the worst receptionist in the world. According to my friend, the young, beautiful and seemingly well-groomed girl sitting behind the reception desk barely looked at her, she mumbled her answers, was chewing gum like a homo erectus, and when she made eye contact, my friend felt as if she was being sized up for a bare-knuckle fight.

I empathized with her, because, after all, encountering rude receptionists and watchmen is a rite of passage. Job places are flooded with receptionists who give the unfortunate impression that somebody had to hold a gun to them to have them report to work. They make you feel like they are doing you a favor just by attending to you. The pesky patience testers, is what I call them.