"And I Love You"

Ok ... So I'm at work, and I'm doing my normal routine. I got my tea, baked apples, cup of fresh fruit , my 57oz bottled water and my devotional book for men .Oh yes.. your boy is high maintenance in the mornings, but these are the things that I consider to be essential when starting my mornings. Anyway, I'm at my desk and I am running through the dialer; trying to quickly generate a contact on the phone. First contact of the day is an elderly woman. I ask for the cardmember by name hoping it isn't her, because a very small percentage of our elderly customers are actually concerned with bringing their account out of arrears. (Me) "Hey!.. is Ms. Voss there?" (Ms Voss) "This is she". I'm thinking; Oh Lord.. here we go ..either she's going to be really nasty to me once I tell her who I am, or she is going to be really nice and try to hold me on the phone forever. (Me) "Hey Ms. Voss...how are you doing today?! This is Peter calling from Chase Bank"! (Ms Voss.) Ohhh! It's so good to hear your voice! Where are you calling from? (Me) "Awww Ms. Voss, it's good to hear your voice too! I'm calling from Maryland". She begins to go into a tangent about the weather and immediately I'm thinking ok ..I need to somehow gently gain control of this conversation. This lady has $32,000 of debt I need to try to collect on. But Ms.Voss is persistent with her random and aimless gab.This creates a challenge for me to switch from a casual conversation to a collection call. All my attempts fail, so I let Ms. Voss continue. Her joyous yet soft and warm ambience is so infectious; I can do nothing but sit there with a big grin on my face as I listen to her. After talking for a while, she says her last thoughts and begins to try to formulate a departure phrase to end the call. (Ms.Voss) Well ok Peter ..It really was a blessing to sit here and talk with you today. .."and I love you!!". She catches me by surprise! My eyes get big and I cover my mouth because I want to say it back. Ahhhhh! ..I love you too!! I'm thinking to myself. (Me) Well thank you so much Ms. Voss...you take care ..ok"? She pauses for a minute; as if she is a little disappointed by the way I responded to her "I love you". I believe she wanted me to say it back. Calls were being recorded and monitored, so I risked getting reprimanded had I returned the kind words. Apart of me feels like I should have ignored the risk... But, I learned that among the things that I find to be essential in starting off my day right ... all it took was her "I love you" to completely satisfy my morning. Peace and blessings to Ms. Voss. :-)