Yesterday, my office received the following e-mail:
"I am from this small town in [a southern state], but I will do whatever it takes to get out of this place and be somebody."
A nice response was sent, and I was reminded back to my early career in Texas.
I got a call that a student was there and wanted more information. I eagerly bounded down the stairs to meet the student. There she was in a simple dress, a brown paper bag with a grease stain, and a Mountain Dew. She introduced herself as TaTaTaneisha. I asked what she wanted to study.
"I don't know what you call it, but I just wanna bust out and be the next Whitney Houston," she said.
I wanted to laugh, but I didn't.
I said that vocal performance would be the best option and asked if she had any experience. She said no.
"I just have a feeling. It's inside me, and I need to get it out."
Again, I wanted to laugh. I didn't. Who was I to keep the next superstar from the world?
I remember the conversation kept going and going, and somewhere in there, she told me she was living at a motel on the Clovis Highway. She was afraid that she would have to move because the owner didn't like her having so many men visitors.
And she winked.
And I realized.
What was happening.
While she was waiting to bust out as the next Whitney, she was making do as a hooker.
A hooker.
I gave her an application, a catalog, my card, and I sent her on her way.
I told my colleagues about our latest potential applicant, and went to lunch.
When I returned, I had a voicemail from TaTaTaneisha. And it was raunchy. Raunchy. And it was invitation to help her complete application at the motel. All I needed to do was knock.
I freaked out.
Freaked!
I told my coworkers. They listened to the message. I documented the whole incident, detail by detail. I told my supervisor. I told her supervisor. I was sure it was going to be a scandal.
Freaked!
And do you know what?
It was a joke.
Not that TaTaTaneisha was a hooker. Or that she wanted to bust out.
The message.
The voicemail had been expertly crafted by a colleague and carried out by another colleague in Dallas.
And do you know what else?
I never heard from her again.
Now, I wonder if any of these new superstars happens to be TaTaTaneisha and I just don't recognize her.