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Operator Lisa Lopez searches for an answer to a caller's question in her job at the city's 311 information line. "My first call this morning was at 6:04. There was a cow on the interstate," she said. "Sometimes our calls are definitely funny."

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The anxious groom called 311 three hours before his wedding at West Bluff Park.

"City of Albuquerque, thank you for calling. This is Lisa. How may I help you?" a voice answered.

The groom said he was unhappy. Although he had followed the process to reserve the city park for the big day, he wasn't satisfied by its appearance: The grass needed to be cut and the park cleaned before the wedding.

Lisa Lopez, the voice on the other end of the line, quickly typed out a service request to the city's Parks and Recreation Department. In less than two hours, the groom called 311 to thank Lopez for being kind and helpful - and to tell her the park was being cleaned and the grass cut as they spoke.

The groom got hitched, without a hitch.

Supporters of 311, the city's information line, call this kind of story a victory - or in their own words, a "kudo."

Kudos are key on the sixth floor of the Plaza del Sol Building in Downtown, because they mean the 311 line - which is growing in popularity as it enters its third year - is fulfilling its intent.

In hopes of reducing the number of non-emergency calls placed to 911, and to improve city services, Mayor Martin Chavez implemented the 311 system in 2005. The line, he said, has been wildly successful.

"It absolutely changed the way we communicated," Chavez said. "It gives us detail on how long it takes to take the calls, how long it takes to issue the order, and how long it takes us to get the work done."

From July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006, the 311 line received 500,342 calls. In the fiscal year ending less than two weeks ago, that number jumped to 750,766.

The calls, operators say, are basically a grab-bag look into the interests of Albuquerque residents.

They ask for information on just about anything that involves the city, both good and bad: locations, hours and fees of city facilities; requests for referrals to city departments; the reporting of abandoned cars, potholes, graffiti, weeds and unsafe city drivers.

With a great view from her perch overlooking Downtown, Lopez sits behind a desk for about eight hours a day. There are about 40 other agents like her, earning an average of $15 an hour.

Seven TV screens show local news reports all day long. Although you might expect plenty of noise, the sound-absorbing walls offer a quiet, almost calm, environment.

Calm, but not dull. On the days when the calls pour in like a monsoon, Lopez sometimes works beyond her regular schedule - as many as seven or eight hours a week. Though she gets an hour for lunch and two 15-minutes breaks, she says she answers about 160 calls a day.

With two years of 311 on her r‚sum‚, Lopez knows the computer software and the City of Albuquerque Web site like the back of her hand.

She says she meets the average "handle time," which includes talk time and documentation of the call, of 3 minutes and 10 seconds and sometimes, in less than 2 minutes and 45 seconds.

She then fills "tickets" - service requests - in a matter of seconds, and also provides callers with a reference ID number in case the problem persists. It's all a part of a 311 operator's standard operating procedure.

The 35-year-old Lopez, a mother of two teenage girls, worked at a credit union for 10 years. She said she decided to find a job that dovetailed with her strengths - customer service - and stumbled upon the 311 job posting in the city's Web site.

After a difficult start, Lopez soon adapted to the position.

"It doesn't take long to get comfortable with the system," she said. "The training program goes through a lot before you hit the floor."

Training and quality manager Esther Tenenbaum is in charge of the six-week training program every agent must have. She says it's preparation that makes the difference when talking to the public.

"We invest a lot of time and energy to make sure they will feel comfortable on the phone," Tenenbaum said.

Tenenbaum says the 311 center emphasizes management practices that satisfy employees as well as customers.

"Communication is very critical here," Tenenbaum said.

A typical day finds Tenenbaum doing that - walking around the call room, chatting often with operators between calls.

"My philosophy is, catch someone doing something right," she said.

Still, "right" at 311 can often be a challenge, because not every question is as routine as "When does the zoo open?"

Operators say they often receive odd questions - queries that defy even the best kind of preparation.

Stuff like . . .

Did the aliens really land in Roswell?

How far is the ocean from Albuquerque?

Can I water my children on Fridays?

What color are penguins' feet?

When does my marriage license expire?

Other types of callers are sometimes hard on operators' patience.

"Your drivers suck!" a caller once said when Lopez answered the phone. Lopez asked the caller to provide the address or license plate of the car he had seen. The caller screamed and hung up the phone before Lopez could do anything.

"That's one of the things of customer service," Lopez said. "You just have to take a deep breath and remember the next person will be happy and thankful."

For her part, Lopez can still see herself working at 311 for the next five years.

"When you hear the smile in their face is genuine, you can really hear it," she said.