A funny thing I did.

Tonight, a friend reminded me of something I did a long time ago. I was living with an Air Force officer back in 1997 or 1998 who was on loan to a secret part of the U.S. gov't. I asked him once if Congress knew what he did. He said "A couple of them do." He was that kind of guy. But you would never know it if you met him. Well, one day I needed to talk to him when he was at work but I didn't have his direct number. So, I called [location where secret go'vt pffice bldg was] and a sergeant answered the phone. I said, "Good morning, Sergeant. Could you put me through to Capt. [name] in [secret organization]? The sergeant said, "I'm sorry, sir. We have no one here by that name."

Having once been an enlisted man in the Army, I know a little bit how enlisted men think. So I changed my voice to sound a little bit angry and a little bit southern. I put a touch of Drill Sergeant inflection in it and I said, "Son, I am a colonel in the United States God Damn Marine Corps. You will put me though to Capt. [name] right now or I am comming down there!"

"Yes, Sir!"

The next voice I heard was my roommate who asked, "How did you get through to me at this number?" I was dying laughing as I told the story. He said, seriously, "He wasn't supposed to do that. What was his name."
I said, "Come on, he thought he was on the phone with an angry colonel, give the guy a break."
My roommate laughed then, too.