Semantics

Telemarketers. They must think that the people they talk to are brain damaged or are all learning English for the first time.

I get a call from a telemarketer the other day and they wanted to give me a gift. A few days earlier I had taken 2 minutes to answer a phone survey. Doesn't bother me to do that so long as the questions don't get too personal or start going into finances. So this call was the call back. The survey was to do with respiratory health, the product was some kind of air purifier.

The lady told me they had a gift for me because I took the time to do the survey. They could deliver a $400 travel voucher to me that night. "Well thank you." I said.

Then she informed me that the person who would come to my door would like to show me an air purifier and that if I liked it they hoped I would tell a friend about it. But she assured me that there was no pressure to buy and no strings attached.

Ok so let me get this straight. I am supposed to get a $400 voucher for answering the survey but the delivery person needs to come into my home to show me a product that I have no interest in. Hmmm. Sounds like a "string" to me. So I said, "I will be glad to accept the voucher but I will not allow someone to come into my house to demo a product I don't need or want."

Here's where I think these telemarketers think they are dealing with morons...

She says, "No, sir. It isn't a demo it is a product preview and we would like your opinion on the product."

Now read that again. I'll wait.

Am I the only one who finds that absurd! So I replied, "Sorry I don't have time to have anyone coming into my house to demonstrate a product." Then she responds, "Sir, a demonstration takes hours this is a 20 minute preview."

What? Conversation was over at that point. And I didn't get a voucher either. I guess my opinion wasn't as valuable as they first thought.

This is your life...

One of the items I picked up with the new computer parts purchase is something called the Moviebox. It allows me to connect analog video devices to my computer via the USB port. I have spent the last week and a half capturing almost 11 years worth of video. I'm about 3/4 of the way done.

It has been an incredible journey looking through all this old video. The memories that come back are priceless and has a way of calming and centering my focus. All too often everyday events and the day to day drudgery can stress me out or make me wonder why the hell I bother sometimes. But seeing where you have come from, the happiness and innocence of young children just seems to make all the stress and angst diminish. Seeing how my family has grown, seeing my Dad again, and reliving the games I used to play with the kids just leaves me completely contented.