What's in a name...

So this has been an interesting thing that we’ve had to deal with here at In Good Company.

Apparently, there’s a company here in Chicago whose initials are also IGC. From what I’ve gathered, they are some sort of head-hunting company, and they have an automated faxing system that randomly tries to send faxes to various phone numbers at all hours of the day and night.

So here’s what ends up happening:
The other IGC ends up calling Joe Schmo in, let’s say, Kentucky, 5 times from 1a-4a. When Joe Schmo answers the phone, he hears a fax tone. After the 3rd or 4th time, he gets pissed, and calls Information to get the phone number for what’s showing up on his caller i.d. box, which is – you guessed it - IGC. Information looks up the phone number they have for IGC, and gives him our number.

Now, granted – by the time people call us and leave a voice mail, they are understandably pretty ticked off. I end up calling them the next morning and explaining the situation, and give them the correct phone number for the company that keeps automatically dialing them. At that point they are usually pretty apologetic, and I understand their frustration.

I arrive at work this morning to a voice mail from the 918 area code, and they guy says in a thick southern accent:
“Yeah, you guys quite calling me in the middle of the night, you take me off your sam-hell list” and then said something about our “faggoty business” and “going to hell.”

Yeeeaah.

I debated for a moment about whether to call him back or not, but decided I didn’t want another phone call from him. I called the phone number he left and a woman answered. I told her who I was, informed her of the situation, and gave her the correct phone number to call. She was very, very sweet. With a big smile on my face, I then said, “And please tell the man who called me that I said ‘thank you’ for his kind words.” She got quiet at that point, and I could hear the embarrassment and apology in her voice when she said, “oh…yes….I’ll - I will.”

Needless to say, I finally called Information and requested that they change our listing to be under In Good Company instead of IGC. I’m not even sure why it was listed that way originally.

Sometimes I’m still shocked when insults are hurled. Like, I forget sometimes, being in this secular gay world every day – running a gay business, dealing with an all-gay clientele, being gay myself – I forget that there are people who really think we’re disgusting.

PS. We don’t have caller i.d. at In Good Company.