In which I forget how to do my job, and almost give my coworkers whiplash.

I work for a cell phone carrier, among other things handling lifeline (government subsidized cell service) customers.

Me: thank you for calling ——-, this is Lady, how can I help? Caller: ¿hablas español? Me: completely forgetting we have an interpreter service that I use nearly every day Hola señora, ¿cómo está usted? (Hello ma’am, how are you?) Caller: (something too fast for me to understand) Me: Lo siento señora, pero no hablo mucho español y necesito un traductor, ok? (I’m sorry ma’am but I don’t speak much Spanish and i need a translator, okay?) She gives me the okay and I continue the call through the interpreter. I wrap up the call and disconnect and my coworkers are staring at me. Apparently I had never told them that I have my degree in Spanish. I don’t typically handle those calls because I get terribly nervous and stammer badly, which makes me more nervous, which makes the stammer worse. It just made me laugh that my mind went completely blank after doing this for six years, and that’s how I handled it in my moment of panic