In which The Author receives a phone call
If you’ve read my previous Adventures in the Book Trade, it won’t surprise you to learn that we were the frequent victims of pranksters. Once in a while a very rare opportunity would present itself to us, where we were able to turn the tables.
One such opportunity fell into my lap shortly after my shoulder operation in the spring of 2008. Because of my limited mobility, I was restricted to working on the till and answering the phones. At which point, I picked up the following call:
Yes, boys and girls – that’s me on the receiving end. (Pease note the adroit manner in which I derailed the idiot on the other end and put him on the back foot.)
When I hung up the call, Gareth B-D, who’d been standing next to me, looked at me in some alarm.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I think I’ve just spoken to the biggest fuckwit of my career.’
Anyway, after I’d finished in the book trade, Gareth sent me a message via Facebook. A friend of his had been surfing YouTube, and he’d come across a prank call made into a video. Gareth sent the link to me, with a message saying Remember this?
Oh yes, I remembered. I’m the guy keeping a straight face for the first forty seconds or so, before deciding it’s more fun to turn the tables.
An Autobiography in Random Chapters 