EPTuntil his shift ended. Two more calls, maybe three if a sales side call came over by mistake. He no longer cared about the cross-sell/up-sell targets. Never did during that last hour. The last hour of a shift was like the last kilometre of a marathon. You want to give up, it'll be so easy to do so, but you can’t. You beg your body for a little more, just take one more call, hopefully it'll be a quick one. His mind would zone out and he’d only hear key words like policy renewal or sum-insured. Not that it mattered, the customers didn’t care if you weren’t really listening, they just wanted whatever they wanted done and hang up. Sometimes John would look around the call centre and he’d feel like a prostitute in a brothel. At least in a brothel the customers come because they want to. Nobody calls an insurance company unless they have to. The worst part though was the loneliness. Only in a call centre can a person be in constant contact with so many people yet feel so utterly alone.
John took a deep breath and pressed the bright red answer button.
"Welcome to NRMA Insurance, my name is John, how can I help you?"
"For now I'm ok I suppose, physically at least."
"That’s fantastic. Could I grab your policy number and I'll bring it up on my system and I'll have a look at that for you"
"I don't have a policy"
"Oh that’s ok sir. If you give me your name and address I can bring it up that way”
“My name is Troy Hutz. I live at 773 Ocean St, Penshurst.”
“No worries Mr Hutz, I’ll just bring up your policy right now.”
Silence, or dead air time as the managers called it, lingered as they both waited.
John could hear the customer’s heavy breathing. He’d normally try and make small talk whilst the system loaded up their files but he didn’t even have the energy to throw an insincere ‘how was your day’.
“Hmm… I can’t seem to find your policy, is it H U T Z and Troy is spelled T R O Y?”
“Like I said, I don’t have a policy. At least you spelled my name right, thanks for that”
“Oh so you don’t actually have a policy with us?”
“No.”
“Oh that’s fine. Thank you for calling NRMA Insurance, you have a nice night Mr Hutz”
“Please don’t hang up”
“Excuse me?”
“I just need to talk to you. Or anybody…..somebody.”
“Um…”
“What’s your last name John?”
“Err… We’re not suppose to give out our last name, it’s company policy for security reasons incase irate customer threaten us.”
“Oh that’s a shame. People are too angry these days.”
“Yeah they are…. Listen Mr Hutz I’m gonna have to-”
“I’m dying John.”
John froze. Did he hear that right, did that guy just say he was dying?
“Did you hear me John, I said I’m dying”
“Wh…What do you mean you’re dying”
“I can feel my life force leaving me.”
“Your life force?”
“Yeah. The will to live. You ever feel like that John?”
John stood up and looked around the office wondering if this is some kind of elaborate joke. Didn’t seem like it. Nobody was looking in his direction, everyone around still had the same zombified look on their faces whilst staring at the monitor in front of them. John looked at the wall clock. Fuck, it was ten minutes past the end of his shift.
“Er… yeah sometimes. Listen Mr Hutz I really hav-”
“I’ve been feeling like this for a long time now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that Mr Hutz…”
“Me too. I really shouldn’t be feeling this way. I have all the things that a successful man is suppose to have. Yet I feel…. empty, like an aquarium that has had its water drained.”
“You feel empty…?”
“Do you like the poems of Robert Frost, John?”
“I…er… in highschool we did some English stuff on his poems. But I don’t really remember much about it.”
“Do you mind if I read one of his poems to you?”
“Mr Hutz, I really have to –”
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though,
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake,
The only other sound’s the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Beautiful isn’t it John? I wanted to read it one last time, but I didn’t know who else to call. Thank you for sharing some of your time with me”
John felt his heart beat quicken. Something didn’t feel right. He’d heard of this one before but he couldn’t quite remember what it was about.
“Mr Hutz are you ok?”
“And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep”
“Hey man listen whatever you’re thinking of-”
“I’m glad I had a chance to speak to someone like you. You’re very kind. I have to go now. I’m very tired and I have to go to sleep”
“Mr Hutz! look wait man don’t hang-”
“Good bye John” *Click*
