📞 The Favorite Job I Have Ever Had

 

From 1994 to 1998, I worked at a nationwide answering service called Anderberg Answering Bureau. We were open 24/7, taking calls for over 5,000 companies across the country. To this day, I can say without hesitation—it was the most fun job I ever had.

It wasn’t the pay (there were no annual raises, which is why I eventually had to move on). It was the people, the energy, and the sheer randomness of what came through those phone lines.

🌙 A Shift Like No Other

I worked the 4pm to midnight shift, and it was like stepping into its own little world every night. The mix of personalities was unmatched: three drag queens (Todd, Billy, and Frosty), two Russian guys and a Russian gal, a group of Hmong girls, skater guys, and big, sassy ladies who kept us laughing.

The calls themselves were just as eclectic. One minute I’d be doing order entry for motor books, the next answering a hotline for Old Country Buffet. Sometimes it was paging messages, attorney offices, dating services, or apartment complexes. Anything and everything came through those lines.

🎬 A Clue, A Friend, and Twin Peaks

Somewhere in that swirl of voices and ringing phones, I met Matt. He was funny, open, and we bonded instantly over our shared love for the movie Clue.

One day, he handed me a plain brown paper bag—and inside was the entire Twin Peaks series on VHS.

John and I were living in our very first one-bedroom apartment then, and we devoured that series like it was candy. Looking back, that moment feels like such a marker of that time in our lives—young, broke, happy, and staying up too late in front of the TV.

🐾 Our One-Bedroom Zoo

Of course, that little apartment wasn’t just John and me. We had an entire cast of pets sharing the space:

• Cats: Katie (Siamese), Elvis (Persian), Riley (Himalayan)
• Snakes: Zoe, Zena, and Zombie—our Colombian red tail boa constrictors—plus a green tree python
• Other creatures: Ziggy the adopted iguana, a 45-gallon aquarium filled with angel fish, and Willy the cockatiel

It was lively, it was messy, and it was ours.

💡 Why It Still Matters

That job didn’t make me rich, but it gave me memories I still treasure. The friendships, the characters, the drag queens who made every shift a performance, and the little gifts of kindness (like Matt’s VHS bag) all remind me that sometimes the best jobs aren’t about money at all.

They’re about people. They’re about laughter. And they’re about being young, in love, and surrounded by just enough chaos to make life unforgettable.

✨ Sometimes the best jobs aren’t “careers” at all—they’re the ones that leave you with stories worth telling.