Going Round And Round

I overhear my coworker on a call.

Coworker: “[Department], may I help you?”

Customer: “Hi, yes, I’d like to know if you have a rotary there?”

Coworker: “I’m sorry, a what?”

Customer: “A rotary.”

Coworker: “Like a telephone?”

Customer: “No! A rotary!”

Coworker: “Rotary with an R, right?”

Customer: “Yes! A rotary! Do you have one?”

Coworker: “Like, in town? There are no rotaries in town. There is one in [Town next over] and a few over the bridges in [City next over].”

Customer: “Are you kidding me? None in the entire town?”

Coworker: “Well, I mean, we’re not very big, so…”

Customer: “But seriously? No rotaries at all?”

Coworker: “Uh, no, I don’t think so…”

Customer: “You think or you know? Which is it?”

Coworker: “We don’t have a rotary.”

Customer: “Ugh! Well, where can I find one?”

Coworker: “Again, there’s one in [Town next over] or a few over the bridges in [City next over].”

Customer: “I can’t believe it! No banks or lawyers in town have rotaries?”

Coworker: “I don’t… are you sure you mean rotary? Like where cars drive around in a circle?”

Customer: “What? No! I mean a ROTARY! R-O-T-A-R—” *Pauses* “Notary. I mean a notary. Someone who can witness a signature.”

Coworker: “Oh, okay. Yes, we have three notaries in our office.”

She came in twenty minutes later, very nice and polite, and apologized for her misspeaking.