Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Tele-terrorists

Last week, while at a petrol bunk, in a moment of weakness, I entered my name and my mobile phone number with an attendant there. He lured me into the trap by offering to include me in a lucky draw. I have, in the past, won a suitcase from VIP through a lucky draw. This time, I was hoping for an all paid vacation to Port Blair.

Two days later, a tele-girl called.

"A very good evening to you sir. Can I take two minutes of your time, please?"

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

"You had entered your name in our lucky draw, sir. Do you own a Mahindra four-wheeler?"

"No, I do not."

"Do you own any other four-wheeler?"

"Yes. A Ford."

She must have gasped. A Ford? A Ford? She then dropped the bombshell.

"As a special gesture, we would like to invite you to a membership from Club Mahindra, a holiday..."

I cut her short. "No, I will not be interested."

"Why sir?"

I was floored. How could I answer this question? I had to think quickly on my feet. "I already have a Club Mahindra membership." That was an excellent answer. She waited for a second and threw the next dart at me.

"Sir, in that case, will you refer your friends?"

"No. I don't have any friends that I can refer. If I did refer them, they wouldn't remain my friends."

She thanked me and cut the call.

This seems to be a nice way of collecting phone numbers and addresses. Offer some freebie and idiots like me will give all our personal details. Then, you can resell the database to every tele-marketer.

Seems like a good idea. I should try this somewhere myself and sell them all books.

3 comments:

  1. Seems like a good idea. I should try this somewhere myself and sell them all books/// lets try it ;)

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  2. Another place to collect phone numbers and addresses

    The shopping Malls. You can see people who approach you to fill in a card to be part of lucky draw. Most of us will never suspect. we just give the details.

    Albert Arul Prakash
    http://www.bepenfriends.com

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  3. "Offer some freebie and idiots like me will give all our personal details." :)
    you should have indulged her a bit. the club mahindra people do offer a 2 days/3 nights free holiday, of course to lure you.you could have been the wiser of the two and availed that holiday to some non descript place in India ,if not to portblair .good day.

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