I've been consciously trying to present myself as male in public lately, here in the last few weeks. Well today I messed up and forgot about adjusting my voice a bit when I went to Arby's. (I know, I'm dieting and all, but I do allow myself something once a week.) I have a somewhat higher pitched voice, and I've learned to both imitate & copy a female friend of mine's vice to get things accomplished. Because when I was younger, but still an adult, I couldn't make calls for myself because people thought that I sounded like a child. But a friend of mine has a voice similar to mine, and in high school we could always fool people on the phone. her family would think I was her, and she could prank my family and they'd think she was me. But she comes from an upper class family and so I learned from her my professional & grown-up communication skills. I can talk exactly like her in every way. And that's what I've learned to do because otherwise, if I just do plain old me, they usually don't believe they're speaking to an adult. So there I am at Arby's, just grabbing a single plain roast beef, totally being read as a guy, having been called sir, strong scent of my Axe spray, and out comes the high pitched shrill voice. Ugh!!! The woman at the counter looked SO confused!
D'oh! And I'm not sure how my new way of speaking comes across face to face. And no, I'm not on T or anything. But at home I have been answering the phone in a quieter voice. I'm not trying to purposely talk in a deep voice, but if I keep quieter, my voice gets a bit scratchy like when you have a sore throat, which sounds a little more towards the male side. And I got my first confirmation on the phone Saturday when someone from my phone company was trying to sell me additional services. She asked for "the owner of the phone" and I said "yeah" and she responded with "sorry sir I need _____ (insert my real name)" and I said "speaking!" and she was like, "oh, sorry" and went on with her sales pitch. But it made me smile.
