Every type of alum you’ll call when you work for a college call center

Princeton is unique among colleges for many reasons, one of which is our 60 % alumni giving rate.  Part of that rate is thanks to TigerCall, a group of students whose job is to call alumni in an attempt to convince them to give back to their university.  I started working for TigerCall spring semester of my freshman year, bringing my total number of semesters at TigerCall to a whopping 1.  I have listed below every type of person that you could ever call at TigerCall, or any similar job at another, lesser institution.

The people who are pretty much famous

Princeton has graduated a lot of famous alumni, from F. Scott Fitzgerald to the First Lady. While we don’t call the really famous ones, we do end up calling some of the ones who aren’t famous per se, but are known nationally.  One of my friends called Jodi Picoult, an American author, and I called Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys.  Jason didn’t pick up his phone but I’m sure we would have become best friends.

The people who are very definitely not giving this year

Some people are in the 40% that don’t give money. Ever. They graduated in 1966 and haven’t given a dime to Princeton.  I know that, and they know that.  “Hello?” they say, praying to God that it’s not the university calling for more money.  They hear the magic word “Princeton” and just hang up the phone.

The people who spend all year dreading this call, but give anyway

They are the opposite of the people in the previous group. They hear the magic word “Princeton” and start rattling off their credit card number before you even have a chance to open PayPal.  They liked Princeton, but they just don’t have the energy for a call.

The people who are genuinely happy to speak to you

These people are the best. They love getting calls from students and you spend 10 minutes on the phone just chatting and it’s a great call.  They have a ton of advice and talking to them is great.  And they always end up giving.

The people who don’t answer the phone

Ring…….ring……ring…….ring…….You have reached the voicemail box of (insert unintelligible noises). Please leave your message after the tone….beep.  I only hear this about 50 times an hour…

The people who are kinda rude about it.

These people tend not to give, but instead of just hanging up, they stay on the line and don’t give money and are just kind of rude. I had one alumnus complain about not hearing me when he was watching baseball.  How do I know he was watching baseball?  Because it sounded like he owned a home theater and was sitting right next to the speaker.  Maybe the reason you can’t hear me is because you can’t be bothered to mute the TV.  Just a thought.

The people who are mad with the university for whatever university.

No institution is perfect, not even the Best Damn Place of All. This year especially, the administration was caught up in some uncomfortable situations, from the Woodrow Wilson debate to cutting a varsity sport.  Of course some alumni are unhappy about the university, and you have to try to soothe their anxieties about giving, even if you completely agree with them.  Some of them rant about how this never would have happened under their president in 1956 and you have to defend the school, or at least get them to realize that the students are what the money really goes toward.

The people who are just a little weird.

We end up making a decent number of weird calls just as a function of the sheer volume of calls we make.  The weird calls end up making the best stories though, so it’s not all bad.  One of my friends called someone who had had a stroke and was no longer in control of his finances.  However, he was convinced that his family was out to get her, and that she was a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.  He then tried to write her into his will.  I called someone who claimed he had never gone to Princeton.  After I apologized for the number being a wrong number he half-sarcastically said that he worked as a janitor and was going to go drink some whiskey.  At 1:30.  On a Tuesday.

Working for TigerCall is a lot of fun.  A lot of the alumni have really interesting stories and bits of advice about life.  It’s also a testament to how much alumni love this place, so much so that there are people who have given back every year since they graduated.  I’ve had a lot of fun working there and I’ve met a lot of really cool people and I’ll have to tag them all when I share this post on Facebook.