an April Fool's memory

Ex-boss man handed me a post it note with the following written on it: "Mr. Lyon, 234-9999, x2, x4, x5"

Ex-boss man told me that he received a message from this Mr. Lyon inquiring about legal services. Ex-boss man then requested me to contact Mr. Lyon at the given number and ask him what his legal problems were. Being the diligent legal assistant that I was, I complied with Ex-boss man's request.

The first thing I heard after dialing the number was, "You have reached the San Francisco Zoo. Please listen to the following choices carefully..."

This recording made me a bit skeptical so I told Ex-boss man that the number was for the SF Zoo. He shrugged his shoulders and told me that's the number Mr. Lyon left on his voicemail.

Well, after hitting #2 then #4 then #5, the operator now said, "Welcome to the San Francisco Zoo's Adoption line. Please choose from the following menu..."

Again, this made me skeptical and again I asked Ex-boss man if this indeed was the correct number that Mr. Lyon gave him. Ex-boss man, again, shrugged his shoulders and suggested I keep pressing numbers to get a live person on the phone. With his insistence, I kept pressing numbers until I finally reached the operator, who unenthusiastically answered with "Operator, how can I help you?"

Excited at finally getting a live person on the phone, I politely asked, "Hello. I'm [q-pig] from [Ex-boss man's law firm] and am returning a call regarding legal assistance. May I speak to Mr. Lyon, please?"

This was the response I got from the operator: "There is no Mr. Lyon here. Stop making these prank calls!" and then immediately hung up on me.

Flabbergasted, I relayed this information to Ex-boss man, explaining to him how the operator accused me of making a prank phone call. Ex-boss man shrugged his shoulders, commented that it was weird and then proceeded to go into another associate's office and closed the door. I heard muffled laughter immediately thereafter.

Still confused and offended by the response from the Zoo's operator, I went back to working on drafting whatever pleading I was working on before Ex-boss man told me to call Mr. Lyon. After about 15 minutes, Ex-boss man emerged from the associate's office, stood in front of my cubicle and calmly pronounced, "I fell so bad, but I know you're a great sport. April Fool's."

It took me a couple of minutes to put two and two together before I started shaking my head in shame, realizing what a gullible person I must be, to fall for such a stupid joke. And then I realized why the operator told me to stop making prank calls.

Obviously, I need to work on my naïveté.