I place the call and the operator at Dean's company picks up the line and greets me.
"Hi, this is Jon from such-and-such-a-company. Is Dean in?" I answer back.
Silence. I roll my eyes because I already know what she's going to say before she says it. I've done this a couple times and I keep forgetting.
"Dean? I'm afraid there's no Dean who works here. This is the Wyoming office. Are you sure you're calling the correct office?"
The company in question has offices located around the country and each time I do this I get the same puzzled response. Dean's sort of explained this to me before but never in depth so without really knowing what else to say I start talking.
"Yes, ma'am, I'm certain this is the office. You you do indeed have a Dean who works there but I don't think he's always physically in the building and for some reason only handful of people seem to know who he is. Is there someone who might know what I'm referring to?"
Confused but happy to help, the operator puts me through to some manager who gives me Dean's cell number. When I do get ahold of Dean we chuckle about the incident but I have to know.
"Dean, you just have me really curious. I mean, how is it nobody in your office knows you? I mean is it that big an office or are they keeping you a secret for some reason?" Chuckle, chuckle.
Dean chuckles lightly and then sheepishly says:
"Yeah well, the thing is no one is supposed to know I work there."
Now it's my turn to fall silent.
"What?" I ask incredulously. "Why not?"
"Well," he starts, "It's because our customers aren't supposed to know I don't live in Wyoming."
"You don't?" I ask puzzled.
"No. I live in Colorado."
Of course I'd noticed the differing area codes before but I'd never Googled them to see how far they are apart.
"Oh. I see. So is this some kind of tax thing or what?"
"No." Sigh. "Well, you know how people from Colorado hate people from Texas...?"
"Uh..."
"Well, it's kinda the same thing with people from Wyoming hating people from Colorado. There's... there's a perception of us."
"Uh." Uh. "Wow. Okay. I've never heard of such a thing."
"Yeah. It's kinda stupid."
And that was pretty much it. Ever heard of such an animal?
