The voice on the intercom tells Ellicott City resident Julie Olejnik she's wanted in another office. She excuses herself, not knowing if the message is real or another setup.
It's a setup.
When she returns, her clients at Valley Title Co. in Owings Mills are humming "Hail to the Redskins," the fight song of the Washington, D.C., professional football team.
She laughs, as though the joke is played on her for the first time, and chats briefly about her work as a Redskinette, one of the football team's 36 cheerleaders. Everyone wants a picture.
She obliges, sharing the official photograph of herself among the Redskinettes. She is for the moment a celebrity, bringing a little pizazz to an otherwise routine closing of a real estate deal.
As a paid settlement officer, Ms. Olejnik spends 12-hour days traveling as far as Aberdeen, Md., and Alexandria, Va., to answer questions and referee disputes between borrowers and lenders at real estate closings.
As an unpaid Redskinette, she drives 90 miles two nights a week to attend three-hour practice sessions and spends most Saturdays doing charity work and making personal appearances. And Sundays, when the Redskins play at home, (( she's on the field.
Both bosses -- Barry Blank, owner of Valley Title, and Rosemary Foreman, director of the Redskinettes -- give her high marks.
"She's doing a wonderful job," said Mr. Blank. Ms. Foreman said: "She is a super Redskinette who makes a lot of personal appearances" promoting anti-drug programs and charities.
The long hours she gives the Redskinettes in practice, appearances and travel time "don't really affect her work" as a settlement officer, Mr. Blank said. "In fact, it helps for a couple of reasons: we get mileage [from her mini-celebrity status] and she's more personable" than many settlement officers because she is in public so often as a Redskinette. "And that's great, because we're in the people business," he said.
Although she doesn't get home from practice until after midnight, Ms. Olejnik, 22, is refreshed rather than exhausted when she begins work the next day.
"The adrenalin keeps me awake," she said.
Working the equivalent of two full-time jobs is nothing new for her -- she has been doing it since high school. But being a cheerleader is. She was cut both times she tried out for the squad at her 200-student high school in Courtland, Ohio. She blamed the cuts on a lack of popularity.
'It's totally you'
About 18 months ago, she confessed to a friend that she "always wanted to be a cheerleader and felt it would be so awesome to be on the field."
"Oh, my God, Julie, it's totally you," the friend told her.
The next day, Ms. Olejnik called the Washington Redskins to find out how to become one of their cheerleaders.
She set her sights not on the 1993 season, but 1994. "Pro cheerleading is not something you jump into after eating Twinkies and pizzas at 2 a.m.," she said.
One of the "littlest Redskinettes" at 5 feet 3 1/2 inches, the Silver Spring native weighed 125 pounds at the time and planned to shed a few pounds before trying out. Running two miles a day, she whittled her weight to 104 pounds. The Redskinette organization is strict about weight, she said, and told her she could weigh no more than 110.
She enrolled in a two-week class with 80 other hopefuls paying $60 each to learn several Redskinette routines and some of the things the choreographer would be looking for in tryouts.
During the preliminaries, 300 aspirants attended three-hour practices, five nights a week, vying for a spot on the 36-member squad.
"You are so tired," Ms. Olejnik said, "and it gets kind of nervous because there are cuts nightly. Each girl has a number. Some nights they called the numbers that stay; some nights they called the numbers that go. You really had to pay attention. The choreographer would show you the routine, give you five minutes to learn it, and say, 'OK, girls, perform that for me.' "
Ms. Olejnik had an advantage in that she had studied tap and jazz dancing since she was 4 years old. When she advanced to the semifinals, veteran Redskinettes joined the competition for the first time. The competition also took on a Miss America-like flavor in the semifinals with hopefuls judged by answers to questions as well an ability to perform athletic routines.
"It's tough," Ms. Olejnik said. The panel of judges asking questions "is one side of the table shooting off questions and you're on the other like a mouse."
The question that bothered her most was whether she would squeal on her best friend if they were in a bar in Fort Lauderdale and her friend danced provocatively in a bikini after having been introduced to the crowd as a Redskin cheerleader. Despite pressure from one judge -- "I'm sure he was an FBI agent" -- Ms. Olejnik stood by her answer that she would abide by Redskinette rules.
No dating players
"We are looking for image," said Ms. Foreman, the Redskinette director. "We want beautiful girls who love community outreach, love people and love kids. We want girls who can project an image that little girls can love and look up to."
Anyone wanting to meet football players need not apply. Dating players is against the rules.
Like many fans, Ms. Olejnik confesses to being a little star struck. "You never think you're going to be so close to the Dallas Cowboys or the [San Francisco] 49ers," she said. "Every play happens right in front of you."
Ms. Olejnik says that time constraints may force her to drop out of the Redskinettes after this season, but she wouldn't have missed the experience for anything.
"You only live once," she said. "You meet a lot of wonderful girls -- every one neat and different in her own way.
"And you learn dedication -- something every employer can appreciate."