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"My name is Barry"
My telephone rings this afternoon and a clearly Asian voice says, "Hello, my name is Barry ..."
"No it isn't," I interrupt.
"My name is Barry Richards."
"Now that's patently not true is it?" I mean really, this chap had a really quite thick Indian accent and I can count the number of Indian men I know, or know of, with completely western names on the fingers of one elbow.
"My name is Barry Richards."
"Now, see, you've started this conversation with a lie; your name is patently not Barry Richards."
"Yes it is."
"No, it isn't."
"What would you say my name was then?"
"I don't know what your name is, I don't need to know what your name is. All I'm saying is that you started this conversation with a blatant lie and therefore I have to assume that the remainder of this conversation will be no more truthful. Since you are calling me to advertise something ..."
"This is not an advertising call sir, it is a promotional call."
"Ah, promotional, yes, that's quite a difference. Well regardless, since you started this 'promotional call' off with a lie I will not be accepting any part of what you are offering because I have no assurance at all that anything else you may say to me is the truth."
It was at this point that my oven timer sounded and I was reluctantly forced to terminate the call.
Why do people imagine that hearing a thick Indian accent with a western name will magically make the recipients of the call more likely to accept whatever 'promotion' they are trying to sell? Honestly, I don't care who they are or where they live ... I am not going to buy anything over the phone. The fact that they assume that I am stupid enough to be taken in by such a ruse, not to mention racist enough to be won over by the thought that I'm talking to a caucasian, frankly makes me quite cross.
It was a fun phone call though.
In other news, I really liked Torchwood last night. It looks very much as though they may have learnt the lessons of the past and turned over a new leaf. And let me tell you that, as someone who has been forced to sit through 42 years of watching straight people snogging on TV; I did not feel that the couple of man to man snogs last night was in any way excessive or 'preachy'. I am, very much, looking forward to seeing how the Ianto / Jack romance develops ... hopefully they'll take their time.
"No it isn't," I interrupt.
"My name is Barry Richards."
"Now that's patently not true is it?" I mean really, this chap had a really quite thick Indian accent and I can count the number of Indian men I know, or know of, with completely western names on the fingers of one elbow.
"My name is Barry Richards."
"Now, see, you've started this conversation with a lie; your name is patently not Barry Richards."
"Yes it is."
"No, it isn't."
"What would you say my name was then?"
"I don't know what your name is, I don't need to know what your name is. All I'm saying is that you started this conversation with a blatant lie and therefore I have to assume that the remainder of this conversation will be no more truthful. Since you are calling me to advertise something ..."
"This is not an advertising call sir, it is a promotional call."
"Ah, promotional, yes, that's quite a difference. Well regardless, since you started this 'promotional call' off with a lie I will not be accepting any part of what you are offering because I have no assurance at all that anything else you may say to me is the truth."
It was at this point that my oven timer sounded and I was reluctantly forced to terminate the call.
Why do people imagine that hearing a thick Indian accent with a western name will magically make the recipients of the call more likely to accept whatever 'promotion' they are trying to sell? Honestly, I don't care who they are or where they live ... I am not going to buy anything over the phone. The fact that they assume that I am stupid enough to be taken in by such a ruse, not to mention racist enough to be won over by the thought that I'm talking to a caucasian, frankly makes me quite cross.
It was a fun phone call though.
In other news, I really liked Torchwood last night. It looks very much as though they may have learnt the lessons of the past and turned over a new leaf. And let me tell you that, as someone who has been forced to sit through 42 years of watching straight people snogging on TV; I did not feel that the couple of man to man snogs last night was in any way excessive or 'preachy'. I am, very much, looking forward to seeing how the Ianto / Jack romance develops ... hopefully they'll take their time.
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#splutter#
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*grinz*
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However, my first question would have been "Are you ringing from the UK?"
If he said yes, I'd then happily point out that we're registered with the Telephone Preference Service and that he was risking a £1000 fine for his company by ringing me. And then ask the name of his company.
They've usually rung off by then.
(If he says no, I put the phone down without hanging up and go and make a coffee. If he's too stupid to notice the lack of response, let his company pay international phone rates).
In all seriousness, register with the TPS. We get almost no spam calls now.
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Someone phoned Grandpa a couple of days ago and said "I would like to speak to you about Sky TV" to which he replied "I'm terribly sorry but I wouldn't like to speak to you about Sky TV" and politely hung up! He is far to sweet sometimes! hehe!
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Richards
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I'm on the TPS as well but never remember to point that out. Usually I just say "Are you offering me some free money that I never have to pay back? No...? Not interested then. Bye bye."
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Not only does he have to ring up irate Westeners but he has to pretend he has a silly, silly name.
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Torchwood was on last night, you say...?
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It is in fact standard practice in many institutions to use a fake name when making sales calls.
This
a) Allows for deniability on the part of the company.
b) Makes it unlikely that enraged clients will hunt you down later.
c) Allows you to continually ring the same person without upsetting them by changing your name every time.
I was for some time an English chap called Kit Larsen with two children, I talked about my children at length to some clients. Blatant lies all of it.
It was not at all unusual for me to occassionally pretend to be my own secretary.
Her name was Belinda.
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Several (although definatly a minority, and generally the younger ones) have "english" first names, I talk to a guy in Brierly Hill regurally who is probably in his mid 30's, is pakistani and has a broad pakistani accent.
So my point if I have one as I am rambleing slightly is that his name could have been Barry and despite my own hate of anyone trying to sell me anything down the phone, it may have been a little closed minded of you to immediatly tell him that he's lying about his name.
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Think about it this way, if he was asian and he gave you an english name you wouldnt have complained. I personally know a Ying Ying Pen (Linda) and a Gee Jo Cheung (Jon) who always go by there english names and understandably so.
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Mind you, tis a funny call!
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That poor guy might not only have been forced to change his name to something rubbish, he also has people who won't believe it's now his name!
*grin*
(I can only apologise - sometimes my mind doesn't work in straight lines!)
On the other hand, we're on the TPS and still get so many calls that we have the ringer switched off and only use it for outgoing calls or calls from friends when I've arranged they'll call at Xpm etc...
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Now-Torchwood...hmmm. Please tell me its just the eye candy thats keeping you watching... it was truly, unbelievable awful on every other level. I can understand why people might fancy captain Jake, and why adding a slightly distorted version of Spike from Buffy might appeal to people, but I would be hard pressed choosing between watching Torchwood or an episode of Power Rangers if I was tied up and forced to choose one as a method of torture. I was actually sitting predicting almost every line of dialog and event before they happened it was so horrifically cliched.
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I am not entirely without taste though, Robin Hood is no longer on my watching schedule ... and hasn't been for some time.
In terms of eye-candy, may I direct you to the icon on this reply ... now that's eye-candy for me ... as well as being an awesome show to boot.
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I just get annoyed when I know exactly what the characters are about to say before they say it in Torchwood. It makes it totally unwatchable for me.
I must admit I dont know what show the icon is from...
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If you watch no television at all this year aside from BSG you'll be doing alright.
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Where we can we often do end up buying dvds rather than relying on repeats. Right now (and when we can afford it or we get them as presents from family) we have been ploughing through the excellent Dark Shadows.
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Sometimes I confuse them by speaking back using one of the three Urdu phrases that I know or when they confirm my name I tell them, no, my name is Vikram Chatterjee.