Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Something extremely strange just happened. I just now got a call from a cellular phone in the 513 area code (at least I presume so, as the caller ID said "Cellular Call" - which was why I answered in the first place). The lady on the phone sounded like she was reading from a script, and told me she was from "(somewhere I can't remember) Area in Ohio, and something about a contest.
Of course, I assumed she was trying to sell me something. As I am still feeling kinda shite, I straight up asked her if this was the case (very politely, of course), to which she replied no, I had just been entered in this contest because preferred Visa, MasterCard, and Discover card customers have been entered in this contest. I hadn't won anything, as the contest was going to occur next April (2007) -- she was just calling to say congratulations for being in this contest and "good luck". Apparently nothing was required of me at all... no promises, no survey, not even an agreement to be in the contest.
Now at this point I was rather bewildered, since in my experience, companies don't spend resources without getting some kind of return for it. And if all "preferred customers" of these cards are entered (and I assure you that the term "preferred" is being used rather loosely if I qualify), that's a LOT of damn phone calls and hence a hell of a lot of phone minutes and work hours to fund for this enterprise. And why the hell was she calling on a cell phone anyway?
So, congrats and well wishes given, her work was done -- a little bemused and quite confused by this point, I said "um...OK. Thanks." and hung up. 30 seconds too late the "wait a minute....!" realization hit me -- none of this made sense, and I had a question or two for the mysterious contest notification lady. So I called the number showing on my caller ID -- NOT 30 SECONDS AFTER THE THE CALL WAS OVER -- and I hear "...this number has been disconnected or is no longer in service". Um... dude.
SO... I have to admit that I am completely baffled. Can anyone out there help me make ANY sense of what just happened? Am I being stalked by government spies? Are aliens using Ohio cell phones to conduct social experiments? Is this a Communist pygmy plot to drive me batshit insane? Or is this merely a new kind of scam that I am too headachey to figure out on my own?
Of course, I assumed she was trying to sell me something. As I am still feeling kinda shite, I straight up asked her if this was the case (very politely, of course), to which she replied no, I had just been entered in this contest because preferred Visa, MasterCard, and Discover card customers have been entered in this contest. I hadn't won anything, as the contest was going to occur next April (2007) -- she was just calling to say congratulations for being in this contest and "good luck". Apparently nothing was required of me at all... no promises, no survey, not even an agreement to be in the contest.
Now at this point I was rather bewildered, since in my experience, companies don't spend resources without getting some kind of return for it. And if all "preferred customers" of these cards are entered (and I assure you that the term "preferred" is being used rather loosely if I qualify), that's a LOT of damn phone calls and hence a hell of a lot of phone minutes and work hours to fund for this enterprise. And why the hell was she calling on a cell phone anyway?
So, congrats and well wishes given, her work was done -- a little bemused and quite confused by this point, I said "um...OK. Thanks." and hung up. 30 seconds too late the "wait a minute....!" realization hit me -- none of this made sense, and I had a question or two for the mysterious contest notification lady. So I called the number showing on my caller ID -- NOT 30 SECONDS AFTER THE THE CALL WAS OVER -- and I hear "...this number has been disconnected or is no longer in service". Um... dude.
SO... I have to admit that I am completely baffled. Can anyone out there help me make ANY sense of what just happened? Am I being stalked by government spies? Are aliens using Ohio cell phones to conduct social experiments? Is this a Communist pygmy plot to drive me batshit insane? Or is this merely a new kind of scam that I am too headachey to figure out on my own?