Working in a call center got me my in for all of my early Liverpool trips, as a kid...
Worked for Sealink in Dublin, on the phones during the summers while in college. Picked up the phone to a Scouser going spare, already mid-sentence... "Why the fuck is my ship disappearing over the horizon?!?!? I was told I had 3 hours, etc..." Poor bugger had missed the sailing, and he and his family didn't know what to do. Long story short, I took care of him, gave him a few upgrades on the next sailing 4 hours later, and got him some food and drink tokens for a restaurant right by the harbour.
During the call, once he'd stopped going berserk, I asked him if he was red or blue... He immediately answered "Red of course! What kind of a fucking question is that?!?!?". We were friends from that point onwards (and that's why I gave him so many extras). As he put the phone down, he couldn't thank me enough, and said, almost without realizing "listen, if you're ever planning trip over, let me know - I'll take care of ya".
Three weeks later, I was kipping on his couch, after he took me to the match with his son and mates, and then home to his gaff, where his wife (a Galway lass) cooked us all dinner and we had a great laugh. We kept in touch for years, and I visited him and his family probably a dozen times before we lost contact. He owned the Liver Hotel in Waterloo, so I often brought mares with me, and we'd have amazing weekends of football and craic., closing down his boozer and crashing where we fell! I even took his daughter out a few times down the year, when we were both simultaneously single.
I was always very glad that I picked up that call, that day, back in Dublin. 🙂
