Holiday Hunting, Part 2

April, a call center rep, picked up before the first ring, and immediately asked for my account number, which was a long series of numbers on the mailing label pasted to the catalog. I gave her the numbers, but there was a mix-up, and she couldn’t find me in the database. She then asked for the “number in the pink box on the back of the catalog.” I told her the pink box was empty and said I was a new customer who’d ordered a catalog via the Web. That apparently didn’t satisfy her, and there was a bit of impatience in her voice that made me uncomfortable. But to her credit, she quickly collected herself, and brightly asked for my last name—a back-up plan that apparently was successful. We were back on track.