Bat Phones

We call them the bat phones. 

It's that time of year again ... Phonathon at our university Alumni Office. 

The bank of red phones is about to be set up in our Alumni office.  Crammed into a small room on the third floor of this old tudor style house will be 14 red push button phones on long tables.  Crammed into that same room will be 14 student callers making nightly calls.

This year we are going high tech by adding headsets.  We are low tech in most respects – we print all the information on individual sheets that are color coded. 

The callers have a practice night where they make calls to some of our staff and friends – each  staff member is given a persona and a scenario that they must act out on the telephone call.  The student callers are then given feedback on how they handled the calls prior to beginning the actual phonathon.  

I’m curious if you, my reader, receive calls from your alma mater?  Do you dread these calls or look forward to them?  Do you pick up the phone and chat or do you let it go to voicemail?  What would make you want to pick up the phone?