Is This Borden's?

I get phone calls....

Is this Borden's?

Hi, I'm trying to call Kraft...

Is this Duncan Hines?

Is this Sunbeam?

I'm looking for Rival...

Is this Borden's?

All of these phone calls come from folks who are looking to speak with the food or appliance manufacturer for one reason or another. And somehow they've gotten their Search Engine results all mixed up and they find me instead.

I try to help when I can. I'm usually sitting here at the computer anyway, and it's easy enough to find the phone number they're really trying to call. Sometimes I just like to see how quickly I can find the information they're looking for. I love the Search Engines.

One gentleman wanted to find out if his Duncan Hines Cake Mix was still good. Evidently it had been on his pantry shelf for A While. The manufacturing date was easy to figure out with the information given on the Duncan Hines website. Useful stuff to know--I'm the kind of person that won't use anything one minute past the expiration date.

Around the Christmas holidays, another lady couldn't find Comstock Pineapple Pie Filling at any of her local stores. I looked on the Comstock website, but didn't see where you could order it there. No phone number either. That's always frustrating when the only way to contact TFC's is via email. What if you need to know NOW? I sent her off to hometownfavorites, an online grocery that specializes in hard-to-find foods. Online. 24/7/365. You gotta love it. She was a happy camper because she got to make her traditional holiday dessert.

Today a woman wanted to know where she could find Oreo Chocolate Cookie Crumbs. That one was kind of difficult, because the Kraft Product Locator wasn't easily found.

A while back, a man from Florida called. He had purchased an older Sunbeam Electric Skillet at the thrift store. It was one of the models with the crockery insert. Sunbeam couldn't help him, so I guess he called me out of desperation. He was really wanting to make sure he had the correct instructions before he let his wife loose with the skillet. Didn't want her to break that crock. That one was fun, because it was a challenge. I could find an advertisement for the crock insert in one of my Sunbeam appliance booklets, but no printed instructions on how to use it (he didn't want to take my word for it either). I finally ended up sending him the order insert with a different manual. Last month I came across the original booklet while I was in Indiana. The booklet's pretty beat up, but I'm going to send him a copy of the "real" instructions.

Another lady was looking for canned Borden Egg Nog; it was for her mom who had cancer and not much of an appetite. She couldn't find any at the stores near her, because it was March--no egg nog on the shelves in March. I was happy to help her track some down because I've been there. You'd go to any lengths to get them to take some nourishment.

I get a LOT of calls from folks wanting to know stuff about Borden Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk. They can't find the Borden website, but they can find me. They need to be looking for Eagle Brand Foods, not Borden. That's usually why they can't find it. One sweet little lady was quite insistent. She kept saying "but your phone number is listed on their website." MmmmHmmm. "How can I help you today?"

I like researching and answering people's questions. Maybe I ought to get a job at Pillsbury. On the other hand, my phone's pretty busy already!