The phone rang this morning. I answered after the second ring, and heard the tell-tale pregnant pause that heralds a telemarketer. I steeled myself for someone to mispronounce my name and prepared to interrupt at the first pause to inform the telemarketer that I don't like to be solicited by phone and to please remove my name from their calling list.
Then my world turned upside down.
The pause ended and a recorded voice came on the line, said, "I'm sorry," and hung up. A telemarketer hung up on ME. No, worse than that-- the telemarketer's computer hung up on me. Politely.
I'm trying to imagine the business model behind this call. Is the first apology free, is that it? "So, Mr. Sarrett, you liked that politely curtailed telemarketing call, yes? The next one's going to cost you. And we think you'll pay. If you don't, the next call will last a little longer. And the one after that longer still. Soon we'll be calling during dinner, and interrupting your favorite television programs. Yes, we're confident you'll pay."
Or was this a telemarketer trying to weasel his way out of a bit of creative sentencing? Perhaps someone was ordered to call everyone he's marketed to in the past and apologize for his tactics, and instead of doing so himself he set up his automated dialing system to do it unattended.
What kind of Twilight Zone have I stumbled into?
Posted by Peter at January 25, 2005 10:43 AM