The business editor who took a restaurant reservation

Tony Dobrowolski, the business editor of The Berkshire Eagle, writes about some of the strange phone calls he has handled from readers.

Dobrowolski writes, “I frequently receive calls from people seeking information about restaurants I may have written about, and how they can make reservations. One person even left a reservation request on my voice mail as though I was the maitre’d.

“Considering that I identify myself on my voice mail as the “business editor” of The Berkshire Eagle, I get the feeling that these types of callers barely even listen to my voice before deciding to leave a message.

“I also get a lot of calls from people looking for work, especially after I’ve written a piece on a business that’s expanding and looking for more employees to tackle a new project. I almost always return these calls, because I know how difficult it is to find a job in this economy. Sometimes I get calls from people who are looking for work at The Eagle. For anyone in that situation, please call The Eagle’s personnel office. I can’t help you.

“A lot of the calls I receive come from outside the Berkshires. Someone from Florida called the other day looking to make a reservation at a local eatery sometime in July. I know because I looked up the area code.

“A couple of years ago, I received phone calls from Germany and Japan when a local company put part of its business up for sale. The people on the other end went into their business spiels before I even had a chance to explain who I was, and seemed a little stunned when I told them I couldn’t help them — the language barrier may have had something to do with that.”

Read more here.