I truly don't think a better TIME was to be had than those I spent in the Call Center of Gooseberry Patch. A place where the walls could be found painted shades of purple or green, where each office had it's own casement window, and vintage goodness was the talk in the air.
We loved our customers, and our customers loved us. We were encouraged to ask about family and holiday plans. We were encouraged to speak as though over the garden gate.
Between our calls we pulled back our headsets to chat with each other and share our calls. I will never forget a most interesting one I had in the days before Halloween.
"Welcome to Gooseberry Patch, this is Elizabeth. How may I help you shop today? Halloween? Oh yes! we have lots of wonderful things to offer you!"
My customer placed an order for every single Halloween item in our catalog. This was most unusual, I just had to ask. The customer replied, "It so happens my daughter's birthday is on Halloween."
She asked if I could please write a personal gift card to enclose for her daughter. "Dear Wendy, Have a wonderful Halloween birthday! Love, Mom and Dad". I just couldn't help myself, "Oh my! Your daughter's name is Wendy, and she is born on Halloween?"
The customer giggled, "Oh that's only the half of it. Her father and I are morticians, our last name is Black. We live in the town of Killdeer, and our street is Killborn Avenue. Don't worry, we are used to surprised responses."
To this day I can not help but think about Wendy Black celebrating her yearly milestone on this most spooky of days and the giggles shared with the women of Gooseberry Patch.
19 comments:
That's a great memory! Lucky you to have answered that call..I can just imagine this very fun conversation that went on between you and Wendy Black's mother!
Sure sounds like the Gooseberry patch call center was a wonderful place to work...and a great place to call. It's so nice to hear a happy person on the other end of the phone conversation!
What a wonderful place to work, Elizabeth. I'm sure all that creative energy was inspiring.
PS. My parents own a funeral home. My maiden name was Hurst...which my classmates liked to spell Hearse. I totally can relate to Wendy Black. Halloween hugs!
That is too funny! How lucky to have worked for Gooseberry Patch. I wish they'd bring back their catalog. Love your cute alarm clocks - cute color combinations! Have a fantastic week.
I bet that was such a fun place to work at. That would be a dream job to me. By the way are you going to be opening your etsy shop on Friday? I saw in an earlier post this week that you were and now I don't see it there anymore.
I didn't know you worked there! How fun...I have a large collection of their Christmas books and cannot start the season without looking through them all. For some reason, their ideas still feel fresh year after year. The ladies are on Pinterest and it's fun to see what they pin. =D
Great story!!! What fun memories!! Your new characters are so very colorful!! Love it!!!
chris
Wow! What a fun birthday gift, huh? I like your gooseberry stories. :)
Oh that call gave you a giggle for sure. I am certain Wendy enjoyed her birthday that year.
Yes Jennifer, my shop will be open Friday at 8pm EST. Thank you so much for asking! Elizabeth
How funny. Sounds like a wonderful place to work!! Thanks for sharing! xo Heather
How funny! E. what are U doing with all the little crafting items there you are making? If you are going to sell them I would like to buy one!
How lucky that you worked in such a happy place. so days I would like to quit my job and work in a quilt shop or something. I work with miserable people.. both clients and co workers! eiy yie yie!
anyways.. such is life. thats part of the reason I LOVE blogland and all my cheerful happy girlie pies out here! and you dear are at the top of that list!
xoxoxo
vivian
What a fun memory! Gooseberry Patch must have been so much fun to work for! I have many of their books and refer to them all the time, especially the recipes! And I have every single Christmas book, love them..
Blessings
Linda
How fun. I love this story about Wendy Black. Your little clocks are amazing!
Such a funny story, and I bet you have so many accumulated from working on the phones. I had a call center job for many years, so I can relate to the headsets, cubicles, and endless amounts of comical phone calls. The prank calls alone could fill up a book of stories!
Your Halloween creations could put a smile on anyone's face. Love them.
Maureen
I love it! ;p
What fun to work at Gooseberry Patch! I was so sad when they discontinued their catalog. I could have bought everything in there. I kept a few catalogs. They were just too cute to toss out. Wonder if I ever talked to you? I was always ordering something from their wonderful catalog :) So glad you shared that adorable story! Fun times!
What a great story. I love Gooseberry Patch. Would you believe I just ordered a bunch of the old Country Friends booklets from online. I used to love those.
Thank you for this article which introduced me to a very interesting site. Hope to hear from you again.
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