Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Phone Phun

Today ended with me doing an evening telephone and internet conference with 15 other neurologists across the country to review data on a drug that's in development.

The meeting took place after we were all home. So you'd hear the occasional sounds of home life. A kid yelling, a dog barking, somebody laughing in the background, etc.

Usually these things go fairly smoothly. Tonight's, however, had 2 noteworthy interruptions:

Interruption #1:

The "click" of a receiver being picked up, and suddenly a young female voice cuts off the moderator:

Young female: "Daddy! My boyfriend is supposed to call tonight! Why are you on the phone?"

Neurologist X: "Britney! Get off the phone NOW! I'm in a meeting!"

Young female: "Daddy! This isn't just any boy! This is TREVOR!!!!!!!!!!!!" (click)



Interruption #2

The Moderator was asking a few questions. He was interrupted when a neurologist with a thick Brooklyn accent apparently had an interruption at home, and loudly said:

"What? Tell him to fuck off! I'm on the phone!"


Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.
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19 comments:

  1. DaniAugust 12, 2009 at 11:33 PM

    Wow. I don't know if I like the first or second one better. :D

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  2. bekAugust 13, 2009 at 12:00 AM

    Gee...all I had to deal with on my conference call today was some irritating static and the sudden squealing that sounded like a dial-up modem at the end of the call. Yours was much more entertaining. =)

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  3. AnonymousAugust 13, 2009 at 12:44 AM

    I'm glad to know neurologists are people too. :)

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  4. C.August 13, 2009 at 12:48 AM

    Always love the conference calls from home.

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  5. TachyonAugust 13, 2009 at 1:41 AM

    LMFAO! Sounds like something that would happen in the "no who you think we are" household!

    I did something very similar today when my mom was talking to the mortgage company about saving the house from forclosure.

    Something along the lines of "those effing pricks are just gonna string us along until twelve hours before the sale -- THEN they'll tell you they worked something out and it will be too late!"

    Yeah, they wanted to tell us they weren't foreclosing. (oopsorry.)

    Then again, when i worked in insurance, my boss used to put the confs on speaker and then close shop and watch NASCAR.

    (FYI, i made a "thing" which can hardly be called a blog.)

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  6. RonAugust 13, 2009 at 2:41 AM

    Bwahahaha! This sort of thing happened during an earnings call once with all this big deals from various investment banks listening in (plus God only knows how many shareholders). One of the corporate officer's mother somehow got patched through by accident by a secretary. Oh did that get catch hell.

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  7. Sarah AnneAugust 13, 2009 at 4:41 AM

    Awesome.

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  8. JennyMacAugust 13, 2009 at 6:50 AM

    HAHAHAHA....love that Trevor story and certainly could see myself doing something quite similar back in the day. This was a great laugh.

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  9. Chrysalis August 13, 2009 at 8:26 AM

    I'm surprised you all didn't laugh.

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  10. Hair Bows & Guitar PicksAugust 13, 2009 at 10:39 AM

    The first one is my favorite. Because it's not ANY boy it's TREVOR!!!!

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  11. The MotherAugust 13, 2009 at 11:58 AM

    Someday, they'll invent the cone of silence that will magically let a parent have an actual phone conversation by him/herself.

    But someday is apparently a long way away.

    ReplyDelete
  12. bettyAugust 13, 2009 at 1:20 PM

    just found your blog; oh my gosh, you have a good sense of humor for a doctor! never a dull moment on those conference calls! I'm wondering if the next time such a call occurs if the moderator will request participants to mute their phones unless they are actually talking at the time

    betty

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  13. ♥ BrajaAugust 13, 2009 at 6:34 PM

    Well, you can choose your friends, you can choose your vocation, but you can't choose when your family's gonna pick up the phone and screw up your reputation....
    :)

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  14. AnonymousAugust 13, 2009 at 8:16 PM

    lol, I remember once when I was a teenager, my mother who just got divorced from my father was doing this dating thing through the local news paper single ads, and she was talking to this guy and I picked up the phone and kept making farting noises (with my mouth)every now and then through out the whole conversation. he never called her back...opps...

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  15. LizAugust 13, 2009 at 10:56 PM

    Nope, I can't choose...they are both awesome!

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  16. LipstickAugust 13, 2009 at 11:07 PM

    This is absolutely hilarious!!! So, did everyone burst out laughing or did y'all have to stay quiet and doctor-ly and pretend that it didn't happen?

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  17. ArpsAugust 14, 2009 at 4:51 AM

    loling!!!

    The first one definitely takes the prize!!!
    I can sooo picture that happening!!

    and of course, in the words of Hair, Bows and Guitar Picks:
    "...Because it's not ANY boy it's TREVOR!!!!"

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  18. Grumpy, M.D.August 14, 2009 at 7:36 AM

    Lipstick- nope. Didn't hear anything else. Maybe the others had muted their phones so they could watch baseball.

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  19. pharmacy chickAugust 15, 2009 at 2:46 AM

    Grumpy, I needed a good laugh today and you provided it..in spades!
    Thanks...I'd love to tell somebody to F off!

    ReplyDelete

So wadda you think?