For a few years now, my wife (the international buyer for a heavy diesel governor manufacturer) gets these business calls late at night or in the early mornings from China, India, Russia, Brazil, Italy and the Middle East. I usually answer the phone and when I hear some foreign accent asking something along the lines of, "Heeloh. Mah name eez so-and-so from such-and-such. Eez MEEchell deer, pleeze?" I then hand the phone over and go back to sleep.
Shelle sometimes has difficulty with the various odd names so she often gives them nick-names if she must speak with them often. One such fella was "Aboo" from Jordan with whom she would take orders, dicker prices and offer production updates ever few weeks or so.
Last night she comes home and over dinner asks if I remember her mentioning her nice "friend," Aboo from Jordon? I said yeah, I remembered the name. She went on to remind me that she always thought he was from the Jordanian State Department or something, since all foreign government orders had to be approved by both theirs AND the U.S. State Departments. I said, yeah, I remembered something about her mentioning that, too.
She then went on to explain how she'd gotten a call from his secretary (or some such) yesterday morning cancelling her phone meeting this coming Friday with "Aboo" due to the bombings in Amman.
Shelle expressed her condolences and asked if anyone "Aboo" knew was hurt. The person on the other end said, rather proudly, "The King knows ALL his people!"
Turns out Shelle had always thought the name "King" - as in THE King Abdullah II of Jordan - was just her mishearing how he said his name over the phone, so she had just shortened it all to a friendly, "Aboo"!
I said, "You mean you've never ONCE addressed Aboo as 'Your Highness?'"
She replied, "Well, no, Silly. He usually just says, 'Hahloh, Meeshell. It is me, Aboo in Jordan,' when I get on the line."
After I got my jaw closed I kept laughing off and on for over an hour!
It seems the King of Jordan has even mentioned my wife to U.S. state officials as to how much he enjoys dealing personally with American businesses. He said that he likes talking to my wife in particular because she "sounds like a young girl over the phone yet always drives a hard bargain." He also seems fascinated with America's "southern accent."
Shelle likes him because he's always very polite, soft spoken, doesn't flirt and is "on time."
The first time she ever saw his face was yesterday on the TV news in her lounge at work! Turns out that his wife, Queen Rania, ain't half bad, herself. Of course, that's just MY opinion...
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Shelle sometimes has difficulty with the various odd names so she often gives them nick-names if she must speak with them often. One such fella was "Aboo" from Jordan with whom she would take orders, dicker prices and offer production updates ever few weeks or so.
Last night she comes home and over dinner asks if I remember her mentioning her nice "friend," Aboo from Jordon? I said yeah, I remembered the name. She went on to remind me that she always thought he was from the Jordanian State Department or something, since all foreign government orders had to be approved by both theirs AND the U.S. State Departments. I said, yeah, I remembered something about her mentioning that, too.
She then went on to explain how she'd gotten a call from his secretary (or some such) yesterday morning cancelling her phone meeting this coming Friday with "Aboo" due to the bombings in Amman.
Shelle expressed her condolences and asked if anyone "Aboo" knew was hurt. The person on the other end said, rather proudly, "The King knows ALL his people!"
Turns out Shelle had always thought the name "King" - as in THE King Abdullah II of Jordan - was just her mishearing how he said his name over the phone, so she had just shortened it all to a friendly, "Aboo"!
I said, "You mean you've never ONCE addressed Aboo as 'Your Highness?'"
She replied, "Well, no, Silly. He usually just says, 'Hahloh, Meeshell. It is me, Aboo in Jordan,' when I get on the line."
After I got my jaw closed I kept laughing off and on for over an hour!
It seems the King of Jordan has even mentioned my wife to U.S. state officials as to how much he enjoys dealing personally with American businesses. He said that he likes talking to my wife in particular because she "sounds like a young girl over the phone yet always drives a hard bargain." He also seems fascinated with America's "southern accent."
Shelle likes him because he's always very polite, soft spoken, doesn't flirt and is "on time."
The first time she ever saw his face was yesterday on the TV news in her lounge at work! Turns out that his wife, Queen Rania, ain't half bad, herself. Of course, that's just MY opinion...
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