A Perfect Con

Please note: This is MY PERSONAL opinion. By reading past this point, you agree that you are entitled to your own opinion, and will not judge me (or sue me) for recounting my own experience.

I got phoned by Thulani from Rhino Marketing about a guaranteed prize that I had to claim. Here’s how the call went, starting from when I pick up the phone (there are a couple of free lessons at the end):

me: Hello James speaking.
thulani: Hi. Sorry, who’s speaking?
me: James
thulani: Ah yes, that’s who I’m looking for. I just want to tell you that because you entered a competition by filling in a survey, you have won a guaranteed prize.
me: What survey?
thulani: Either a survey at a petrol station or shopping center. You may not remember it because it was quite a while ago.
me: Ok.
thulani: You have won either a laptop, a 42″ plasma screen, R50000 in cash, a weekend away, or a quad bike.
me: Ok.
thulani: You can come and collect it on Thursday, either at 3:30, 5:30 or 7:30 in the evening. Which time is convenient for you?
me: Do I have to listen to a talk about Holiday Club?
thulani: No, you just have to fill in a survey about crime and South Africa.
me: Ok. And I’m not going to have to buy time share or anything.
thulani: No. Not at all. Just fill in a survey, answer any way you like, whether negative or positive, and you will still receive your guaranteed prize.
me: Ok. Definitely no holiday club?
thulani: No. Do you want holiday club?
me: Definitely not!
thulani: Ok, so will you come to collect your prize?
me: Fine. 3:30pm.
thulani: Ok. GREAT. Can I have your cellphone number so that I can contact you and confirm the time with you? And help you with directions?
me: Sure. It’s #########
thulani: Thanks. Sorry, I just need your surname.
me: Hmmm. It’s (what ever it is)
thulani: Will you be bringing someone? Liek a wife or girlfriend?
me: No, I’ll come by myself.
thulani: Are you married?
me: Yes.
thulani: But you’ll be there by yourself? I just need to confirm numbers.
me: I’ll be there by myself…
thulani: Ok, thanks. See you tomorrow. Don’t forget!

So, what can I learn from the above?

- If it’s too good to be true, it is!
- If they say you’ve won a prize, and you need to come fill in a survey, it’s for Holiday Club.
- If they say it’s NOT for Holiday Club, it’s for Holiday Club.
- If they PROMISE you it’s NOT for Holiday Club, it’s for Holiday Club.
- If they LIE to you, it’s NOT for Holiday Club, it’s for Holiday Club.

What typically clever con tricks did they use?

- I said my name, and they pretended they knew it.
- They asked for all the details that they SHOULD have already had. Especially my cellphone number. Any competition form will ask for this, and I will give it. And, come ON now! Would I not give my SURNAME?!?!?!

Anyway, I did realise what was going on from the start, but I decided to play along. I even went to the little survey thing, and almost made a grown man cry in disbelief when I didn’t sign up for the Holiday Club, but THAT is a story for another day.

You can read even more about this stupid scheme here: “Profiling gone wrong“

2 Sides to every story

Let me tell you about a story where FAT models are not being allowed to model.

I think it’s a good thing. Fat models help to promote unhealthy eating and unhealthy lifestyles. Why should we allow our children to see that being fat, lazy and unhealthy is ok? Are we not tired of seeing obesity everywhere. You just have to walk down the road or in a shopping center and you will see a fat person that obviously does not care about their health.

And this is due to those fat models who portray an image of “big is beautiful” instead of “big is unhealthy”.

Ok! Now, before you all kill me, I’m sure you’ve heard about the whole “Size 0 Model” debate going on. This is the debate of whether or not “Size 0 Models” are allowed to model on the catwalk. This has become a heated debate since Luisel Ramos died from heart failure due to anorexia.

I’m sure there are a LOT of people saying that it would be a good thing if these size 0 models weren’t allowed to model until they put on weight. But then, wouldn’t this be similar to what I was saying at the beginning of this post regarding “fat” women?

Now that you’ve seen another side of the story, would you still prevent “Size 0″ models from modelling? I think it’s a good thing to discourage anorexia, and I think it’s a good thing to discourage obesity. We just have to find a good way of doing it.

How to remember your fine wines

You know, sometimes it’s really freaky how there are more people in EXACTLY the same situation as you than you think. For example, I’ve just read this article on the Lonely Marketer blog: A Great (and tasty) Marketing Example « Lonely Marketer

Patrick Schaber (the author) writes the following:

My wife and I vow that one of these years we’re going to start keeping information about wines we enjoy. Maybe its the time involved or the tough peeling of labels from bottles, but we never seem to start cataloging our favorite bottles.

Now, I’ve only been married for a little over a year, but my wife and I have been saying this since we got married. We’re pretty new to the whole wine-drinking thing, as it’s something we enjoy doing when we sit down for dinner, so trying new wines is fun… But trying to remember which wines we enjoyed is really tough. Having easy-peel labels on wine bottles would be an EXCELLENT way for us to catalog our favourite wines.

Now, all we need is for the South African wine industry to read this blog, because we all know where the best wines in the world come from, don’t we?

Graywolf on Southpark

Ever wanted to know what I look like? Well, here I am:

You can go create your own little South Park caricature here: http://www.sp-studio.de/

I found it via this post: Graywolf on Southpark

Expected Answers

Let me start this blog on a personal note.

Everybody knows that being married, or at least being in a relationship means that you have certain “scripts” that you have to follow. For example:

wife: Do these pants make my bum look fat?
husband: No, you look gorgeous!

wife: I think the hairdresser messed up my hair-cut
husband: No, you look gorgeous!

wife: Do you like these shoes I bought?
husband: yes, you look gorgeous!

You get the picture. Anyway, the other day, I was getting dressed to go for a walk with my wife, and not sure whether to wear the t-shirt I had on for working around the house. So the following exchange took place:

me: This shirt makes me look like a freak
wife: But who cares… Nobody will see you.

Imagine if it had been the other way around!?!? I would be dead by now.