May the Phone be with you

My husband has an uncanny knack for getting almost anything he wants over the phone. Lower interest rates, eliminated fees, free product upgrades, free shipping upgrades, lower rates on hotel rooms -- you name it and chances are very good he'll get what he asks for. Maybe sometimes he'll come away with something a little bit less, but he almost always, *always* gets something -- never losing, always gaining. It's really quite amazing.

The only feasible explanation is that he belongs to a secret order of the Phone Jedi. And there is a special school to teach the way of the Phone Jedi to only those few who are chosen at birth. And they are assigned a mentor, like the great and powerful Obi-Wan Verizon. (The truly advanced can even extend their powers to face-to-face interactions. Shock. Awe.)

They learn to perform their fancy Jedi mind tricks on unsuspecting customer service people, and who knows who else? I mean, we did spend a lot of time on the phone while attending our respective universities before we got engaged/married...

I like to think that I'm one of those people who are able to resist the Jedi mind trick -- thanks to their incredibly keen minds *wink* -- and when he goes waving his hand in front of the receiver while saying, "I need to go to Lowe's," I simply reply, "Ha ha, silly Phone Jedi. Your mind tricks do not work on ME."