Last Saturday some lady called for "Photogiftmarketing," the legal name of my business. I almost hung up on her -- what chutzpah: a sales call on Saturday! I asked suspiciously what I could do for her and she said a charge had shown up on her credit card but she'd never heard of us and was wondering if someone (ie us) had lifted her credit information. With increasing dread and dismay I took her address and phone number while praying for some colossal and humorous mistake not involving blame; meanwhile I searched her name in my sales records. Strangely, her teenage daughter's name showed up; she'd placed an order for a personalized porcelain plate decorated with a wedding photograph and the caption "Happy Anniversary."
Both tickled and relieved, we agreed she'd act surprised.
It reminded me of the time we conspired with our father to plant a magnolia tree in our back yard as a Mother's Day gift; as we (pampered daughters and less-than-handy dad) struggled to dig a hole our mother came outside to empty the trash for what might have been the first time ever and caught us in the act. I also remembered when my sister threw a surprise party for her husband and arranged for his friends to kidnap him for breakfast so she could get him out of the house and he'd think that was the reason for all the whispering; as his friends brought him home he noticed the catering truck at the back of the house around the corner.
