What kind of service, exactly?
December 23, 2009 5:04 AM
What does "Look I'll call you in the morning or my service will explain" (from the song "Another Hundred People") mean?
It's a line from the song "Another Hundred People" from Company (youtube link) What kind of service is she talking about?
It's a line from the song "Another Hundred People" from Company (youtube link) What kind of service is she talking about?
I'm pretty sure she's talking about a phone service. Some theatre types (and no doubt also non-theatre types) who don't work out of an office used(d) a phone service to field calls. I have seen (in recent years, even) business cards for theatre people that list a number for the person's "service" in addition to other info. Before cell phones, a service had the advantage of making a person virtually reachable all the time; now it offers a buffer layer between callers and the individual.
posted by sueinnyc at 5:33 AM on December 23, 2009
posted by sueinnyc at 5:33 AM on December 23, 2009
Answering/scheduling/appointment service? Something below a personal secretary? I take the quote to mean "If I like you, I'll call. Otherwise, someone will call and tell you I'm unavailable."
posted by Thorzdad at 6:44 AM on December 23, 2009
posted by Thorzdad at 6:44 AM on December 23, 2009
I agree with everyone else -- she's definitely talking about an answering service. Also, if you like musicals and are curious about answering services, I highly recommend the Judy Holliday movie musical Bells Are Ringing. It's set in the 60's and ua all about an answering service employee who gets a little too involved in her clients' lives. Great songs, adorable characters, and one of those deliriously loopy plots that could only work in a musical.
posted by deeparch at 6:44 AM on December 23, 2009
posted by deeparch at 6:44 AM on December 23, 2009
How exactly did these phone services work in the old days? If you were calling it, could you tell the operator details like "tell Jim when he checks in that I'm at the office" or "tell my wife to pick up some eggs," or would they just take note of the your name and number? Could you leave an outgoing message, so that if someone called the operator would tell them, "Frank left a message for you to meet him at the corner"?
And were there limits to how many messages you were allowed? What did it cost?
posted by gabrielsamoza at 7:54 AM on December 23, 2009
And were there limits to how many messages you were allowed? What did it cost?
posted by gabrielsamoza at 7:54 AM on December 23, 2009
To provide a more philosophical interpretation, I think the line is meant to evoke a feeling of a shallow connection - "Hey, I'll be in touch, or some complete stranger will answer and tell you why I didn't call." Company is about the difficulty one man has embracing the scary scary idea of intimacy with all the mess and consequences that accompany it. I think this song is really meant to hammer home the "alone in a crowd" mentality. In the YouTube clip, see how Bobby looks honestly scared and alone, instead of the jolly friend personality he usually projects.
By the way, if you get the chance to see it (PBS has aired it before) this is an excellent version of Company. Very simply staged, with impressively versatile players who act, sing AND serve as the orchestra. This is the show that led me to obsessively search YouTube for Raul Esparza singing anything and everything.
posted by booksherpa at 9:59 AM on December 23, 2009
By the way, if you get the chance to see it (PBS has aired it before) this is an excellent version of Company. Very simply staged, with impressively versatile players who act, sing AND serve as the orchestra. This is the show that led me to obsessively search YouTube for Raul Esparza singing anything and everything.
posted by booksherpa at 9:59 AM on December 23, 2009
How exactly did these phone services work in the old days?
A phone service or answering service was like having a remote secretary. It was staffed by live humans (often 24 hours) who would take incoming calls for you. Incoming messages could be as long or short, as brief or detailed as necessary. (I worked at one for a short time.) One line, for example, was for a doctor's office; we'd often get detailed messages from patients listing symptoms and such after office hours. If it sounded like an emergency, we'd contact the doctor immediately and give him the info. If it wasn't urgent, we'd wait for the doctor to check in with us and then relay the message. We'd always have a contact number to reach the doctor after hours. This was in the days before cell phones - if it was an emergency and the doctor was at the opera, we'd phone a special number at the opera and give the operator the doctor's seat number, and an usher would summon him to the phone. Clients left outgoing messages, too; a sales exec might have us give out a generic "Dave will be out all day" message to all callers except if Fred from Acme Steel Supply called - we were to tell him that needed 40,000 lbs. of the same galvanized we got on PO number XXXXX.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:48 AM on December 23, 2009
A phone service or answering service was like having a remote secretary. It was staffed by live humans (often 24 hours) who would take incoming calls for you. Incoming messages could be as long or short, as brief or detailed as necessary. (I worked at one for a short time.) One line, for example, was for a doctor's office; we'd often get detailed messages from patients listing symptoms and such after office hours. If it sounded like an emergency, we'd contact the doctor immediately and give him the info. If it wasn't urgent, we'd wait for the doctor to check in with us and then relay the message. We'd always have a contact number to reach the doctor after hours. This was in the days before cell phones - if it was an emergency and the doctor was at the opera, we'd phone a special number at the opera and give the operator the doctor's seat number, and an usher would summon him to the phone. Clients left outgoing messages, too; a sales exec might have us give out a generic "Dave will be out all day" message to all callers except if Fred from Acme Steel Supply called - we were to tell him that needed 40,000 lbs. of the same galvanized we got on PO number XXXXX.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:48 AM on December 23, 2009
Answering services are still around. I've seen some advertised for work-at-home types who want to seem more professional or small businesses that don't have money for a receptionist.
posted by lunalaguna at 12:53 PM on December 23, 2009
posted by lunalaguna at 12:53 PM on December 23, 2009
Thanks Oriole!
posted by gabrielsamoza at 4:31 PM on December 23, 2009
posted by gabrielsamoza at 4:31 PM on December 23, 2009
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posted by Lucinda at 5:07 AM on December 23, 2009