#174 turkey talk

I have never cooked a turkey in my life, but even I know about the Butterball help line.  Officially called the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, when it was started in 1983 the staff answered 11,000 questions.  Today, the fifty "professionally trained, college-educated home economists and nutritionists" answer more than 100,000 questions during the service's November and December operation!  

If cooks have an individual turkey dilemma, they can get free assistance at 1-800-BUTTERBALL (obviously they didn't read blog #49!),   "No question is too tough for these turkey talkers, and they are ready and excited to tackle any challenge you throw at them," says the website.  

My guess is that when the hotline started 29 years ago, a majority of the 11,000 questions were about something that is now instantaneously available on the Internet.  Cooks can refer to www.butterball.com and be greeted by handy calculators which give the proper increments to thaw, roast, stuff, freeze and remove the turkey from the oven.  But there are still times where human interaction is better than any website, and the reassuring voice of a Turkey Talk-Line Expert is what is needed to mitigate the holiday stress.  (Keep that in mind as your organization allocates its human resources and considers automating in order to save costs!)

Regardless of whether you heap your thanks on a Butterball helper, your kid sister, that goofy cousin or your four-legged pal, I hope you have something to give thanks for today.  

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

inspired by Emily Kruse

And in case you need it:  1-800-BUTTERBALL translates to 1-800-288-8372.