I lie for my own entertainment

[dsrtao]

I spent 26 minutes on the phone lying to a marketing research survey person from Ottawa.

They called me, and because it was a Canadian number, I knew that the Do Not Call list wasn't going to apply. (Strange how US laws don't apply to Canadians.) So instead I adopted a hybrid Canuckistan-Minnesotan accent and went forth.

He wanted to know how I felt about banks. At the beginning he asked me to list all the banks I could recall, so I gave him some easy ones, some local ones, and some ringers. Later his questions involved Sovereign Bank, which I hadn't mentioned at all. Hrm. So when he asked me to describe my feelings about Sovereign, I told him that it smelled like shit.

(Also, my usual bank is an ATM at 7/11, banks don't care about people, they care about profits, and I don't go to Citizens' Bank because the clerk said something nasty about my umbrella.)

Near the end I had trouble not precisely quoting "If I Had a Million Dollars" (Barenaked Ladies, a band with which I presume every Canadian is familiar) and revealed that I had a Ph.D in Sociology.

Annoying telecritters do NOT fall under my "I must tell them the truth before they leave my presence" rule.

Comments

[kayshapero]

Grin. Not the only profession that ought to remember that just because you are required to ask questions of the public does NOT create in any specific member of the public the obligation to answer you, let alone accurately. I suspect we owe a lot of dubious sociological research results to this factor (let alone what has happened to anthropologists who forgot that "guying the Sassenach" is an old and honored sport.)

[dsrtao]

I believe at one point I explained to him that "all these banks will be in big trouble come the revolution, you mark my words!". I hope he was intelligent enough to be entertained.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you might have been the highlight of his week. Of course, who knows where the call center was...they might not get the references.

[dlevey.livejournal.com]

If the first words out of their mouth aren't some form of respect for my time, and a request for permission, they're fair game.

That can be as simple as "so, what are you wearing...?" or a complicated set of answers designed to draw them in. If they aren't willing to understand that they're intruding on my time, I feel no obligation to do anything that might assist in their goal. Truth need never enter into the conversation.

[dsrtao]

Ottawa, according to caller ID, and he had a definite Canadian accent. Not that I can distinguish Ottawan from Torontonian from Vancouverite, but definite broad vowels.

[cellio]

Nicely done!