He made up his mind: if no one answered by the tenth ring he’d just hang up.
“Hello?”
“Um. Hi. Yes, hello.” He took a breath, tried to deepen his voice. “Is that Jim Czenovic?”
“Speaking.”
“Hello Mr Czenovic. My name is …” he paused, looked at the slip of paper he was crushing in his hand, then made his best guess at a European accent, “Vaughan Ramirez. I’m calling from Agate Recruitment. We’re reviewing references for a Mr Michael Jamieson. Mr Jamieson tells us he worked for you in 2011; is that correct?”
“Sorry, who did you say it was?”
“Vaughan,” he looked again at the paper, “Ramirez. Agate Recruiting. I’m doing a reference check, Mister Czenovic.”