DELO?

I work at a place called the DELO testing center. I've never found out what DELO stands for. I think there's a sign of the acronym outside of this room that i walk by every day, but I guess it's just one of those things that I never pay attention to, like the brand names of my shampoo, or the name of that one guy that I met my freshman year of college and forgot.

Right now I run the check-in counter, which is an adventure in and of itself.
They just moved the desk, positioning it in such a way that my right side is facing the entrance. An unintentional consequence of this is that whenever a tester comes in, they approach me directly to my right. Me being a man of business, I like having a desk between me and the person I'm talking to. When people come to me to my right, I feel like they want to give me a hug or something. There's no barrier. It's like we're friends or something.

The conversation will go something like this:
Tester: (While approaching me to my right) "Mumble, mumble... Test... mumble... eleven o'-mumble...."

By the words "Eleven o'mumble", they're already too close and I can smell the cigarettes on their clothes (For some reason 80% of the testers here smell smokey).

 Me: (Cowering slightly to my left, to avoid both the hug and the smell) "Alright, could I see your ID?"

They hand me their ID. Usually, the picture looks something like the actual person. Most of the time, the actual is a bit chubbier than the pictured. Or there's a hair difference. And sometimes there's no similarity whatsoever, and the person that is actually there was payed by the one in the picture to take the test for them. Some people!
However, there's something I can always count on: The ID will always smell like cigarettes. Thank goodness for a little continuity in my life.

Me: "Okay, you can go ahead and fill this out." I point them to the front of my desk (where they're supposed to be anyway) and show them a yellow sheet with the official name "Memorandum of Understanding." They finally shuffle along to the front of my desk, and I feel much better about myself, having thwarted the dangers of a hug.

While they busy themselves with the Memorandum of Understanding, I pull out a plastic box.
"If you could turn your cell phone off and put it in this box..."
I never really know where I'm going with that. Somewhere in the middle of that sentence I just expect things to work out, and if they don't, my words just kind of trail off into nothingness.
Usually, they look at me in complete confusion.

Tester: "It's off."
Me: "Alright, well if you could put it in this box......." (again, no direction whatsoever)
Tester: "You want me to put my cell phone in that box?"
Me: "Yes..."
Tester: "But it's my cell phone."
Me: "I realize that. But it's our policy that you should put your cell phone in this box. So if you could... do that....."
They reluctantly do the dreaded task, placing their iPhone 4 (smelling of cigarettes) into the plastic box. I swiftly close the lid, and the tester lets out a small gasp (sometimes even a squeak (sometimes, perhaps even a sigh of relief)).

And sometimes, I can see it in people's eyes when I take the cell phone away from them. A slight glimmer. I'm giving them something. I'm showing them that they Can survive out there without a mobile device. I'm doing the world a favor here.

I'm giving people hope.
Maybe the DELO testing center is in reality a rehabilitation center for mobile device addicts. I might be a really selfless person without knowing it.

With all that said, they go take their test while I watch them ever so diligently to make sure they are honest and true. And if they get an A, I give them a hug. No really.