Hey He Looks Just Like Latka!

As you may know by now (I’ve written enough about it on this blog and on Facebook) today was my first day working the hours of 7:45AM until 4 PM. I felt really strange walking into the call center during the day. It was like starting a new job but yet it was familiar at the same time.

The phone calls came in at a lot faster pace and volume than they did on middle shift. On a typical day on 2nd shift during the 4 hours of taking customer service calls I would average between 20 & 30 calls. During my initial day on 1st shift I took 60 customer service calls. That’s okay though. I like taking CS calls as opposed to order capture calls. That’s one of the reasons I changed shifts.

Also there’s more activity in the warehouse during the day shift. This has a positive psychological effect on me. It tells me that the call center is not just some isolated part of the company.

The warehouse was, for the most part, quite during the 2nd shift hours. Walking back and forth to the break room through the idle warehouse during 2nd shift always gave me a very isolated feeling. Kind of like the feeling you get when you stay late at a baseball stadium and all the players leave the field and they dim the lights.

Seeing warehouse workers doing their jobs and the products we sell in the call center actually being shipped gives me a feeling of being part of something bigger than the job I do in my little cubical. That gives me a very positive attitude toward my job. I’m part of a team bigger than just the call center.

My first day was rather routine. It was the same job, just different hours. Some of the floor supervisors I worked with during 2nd shift came into work during the 2nd half of my day. This made me feel a little more comfortable as well.

Without a doubt the most memorable experience of my first day on day shift came during my lunch time. I sat in the break room to eat. There were a lot of people there and the seating was limited. I sat at a table across from a young man with short dark curly hair and a rather pale complexion.

Much to my surprise he engaged me in conversation. I soon found out his name was Ben and he was originally from Indiana. He was a temporary warehouse worker. He told me that he recently graduated from college with a degree in Social Studies. He wanted to be a teacher but was unable to find a job in a local school district. He was married in June. Now that’s a lot to learn about a guy during a lunch break.

But the candid conversation with Ben was not the most remarkable thing about meeting him. It was how he looked. He looked like comedian Andy Kaufman. I mean he could have been Andy Kaufman Jr. I wish I would have taken a picture of him with my cell phone; but that would have been kind of awkward.

I really liked Andy Kaufman before during and after he played on Taxi. Ben was the spitting image of him. He could have easily played Latka Gravis in a stage revival of the TV show. I mentioned the resemblance to him because it was so obvious. He told me he’s been told that several times. It was difficult to not stare at him. He looked so much like Andy Kaufman.

He told me during our conversation that he may get a teacher’s assistant job he interviewed for earlier in the day so I may never ever see him again. I may not remember much about my first day shift at ShopNBC but I will never forget the day I met Andy Kaufman Jr. I wonder if the real Andy Kaufman just happened to travel through Indiana a little over 20 years ago?

Have you ever met anyone who really looks like a celebrity? If you did email me and let me know. I'd be interested in hearing your story.