Storytime!

So let's preface this story by saying that I cannot lie to save my life. I really can't. Maybe in a pinch, for something serious... but silly lies? White lies? Little fibs that, in the end, don't really matter? Nope. Not me. Not at all.

So today at my internship, I'm given a task of calling up a few magazines pretending to be a client interested in advertising in the 'zine. Can we get a few copies for free for research? Of course our actual product is already featured in this magazine, but we want some free copies in order to send to the client. But the people on the phone don't need to know this.

The first bunch of magazines I just leave voicemails. No biggie, I can fake it talking to a machine. But the last one I call... someone answers.

Well great.

I do the standard spiel, how we're interested in advertising, want details on pricing, maybe get a few copies of the magazine for research... you know. Stuff like that. And she says OK.

And now it's where things get tricky, and I seriously wish I had better improv skills instead of just FREAKING. OUT.

What's the name of the company?
Ummmm...... well great. I'm not listing the actual name of the company since they're already in the magazine, so I make one up. I see a post-it note on the table, which is pink, so I say Pink... East. Pink East. Because that's the first word that pops into my head.

what the...

And the conversation ensues, where I just try to make stuff up. I give her an actual email address (should have just made one up), but in the end she says she'll send us a few copies of the magazine. And I take notes on pricing, because if I were actually this person, that's what I'd do. So now I know that a 2/3 page advertisement in a major magazine costs arounjd $153,000. Good to know.

Anyway, that's my story of the day. Maybe next time I'll actually have some of those other random details figured out before I call... And you'd think studying to be an actor would help me with this kind of thing!