Look Heah ...............

Here's a tip: Conversations that begin with “Look heah.....” just aren't going to go well.

Between the yapping dogs and screaming infants in the background, I can barely make out a word the caller says but in the fullness of time, I'm able to discern that someone in her family wants to be a model. I tell her she needs to register on our website and she immediately wants to know what website. This has become a common question and it's not encouraging. You would think if they'd made their way to our telephone number, they might know who they were calling. You'd be wrong. No, I tell her gently but firmly, you cannot axe me a question, fill out a form on the website and we'll get back to you if we're interested.

Not five minutes later, she's back, wanting to know if I've seen the registration form. I tell her I check each morning and I've already checked today. She offers to stop by on the way to pick up her food stamps. No, I say, a little more roughly, we don't see anyone here, only at auditions.

But look heah................she protests.

Fill out a form and if we're interested, you'll be invited to an audition, I tell her, that's how this works, thank you very much for calling.

Racist! she spits at me.

And that's all I can take. Look, lady, I snap at her, I don't know you and I damn sure don't care what color you are but I can sure as hell can tell we're not going to get along so no hard feelings but we're done. Buy the kid a pony or give her dance lessons, I don't care, but you're not welcome here.

She's still cussing when I hang up the phone and reach for the aspirin bottle. By the end of the day - if not within the next hour - there's certain to be a negative post about my attitude on our social media page but I can't bring myself to care. Peace of mind comes when you figure out what to ignore.