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This afternoon, I went for a walk, timing it exactly right in terms of returning home seconds before the rain started. My timing was less successful, relative to the audiobook I was listening to. (Seven Kinds of Death, by Kate Wilhelm. It's recent enough that a locked room is unlocked with a magnetic keycard, but old enough for those newfangled magnetic keycards to call for some explanation, At least if it's on Chekov's mantel in Act 1.) Although my multitasking ability is not really good enough to pay attention to a mystery while doing anything more complicated than walking, I didn't want to stop.
I still had my headphones on, as I rarely do in my apartment, when the phone rang. I fumbled to stop the audiobook and take off the headphones while I answered the phone. I heard the faint staticky sound that can indicate technical problems, so I said, "Hello? Do we have a connection here?" (This usually alerts the gentleman to deactivate his mute button, fix his headset, or call back. And if it's not him, no harm done.) This time, I was speaking over a recording: "Please press 1 for an important message about Borders."
I thought, WTF? Did I give them my phone number at some point? Is there some problem with the Burlington store? Or could there be some crisis happening with all their stores, and fandom is getting scooped because it's happening THIS weekend and everybody's attention is elsewhere? So I pressed 1. "We believe good border policies are essential for our national well-being. Please educate yourself on these matters and vote accordingly. Thank you." (I may be misremembering some of the words, but the recording was just that specific.) Who do they mean, "we?" What do they mean, "good border policies?" What kind of "national well-being" are they talking about?
They didn't introduce themselves, so there's no way to check if they believe good border policies are non-racist and efficiently administered. Probably not...that kind of attitude doesn't usually inspire a robot calling campaign. I wonder what this robot calling campaign is trying to accomplish with the call? Can I expect their confederates to show up in a few days, trying to sell me books and CDs about border policies and national well-being?
I still had my headphones on, as I rarely do in my apartment, when the phone rang. I fumbled to stop the audiobook and take off the headphones while I answered the phone. I heard the faint staticky sound that can indicate technical problems, so I said, "Hello? Do we have a connection here?" (This usually alerts the gentleman to deactivate his mute button, fix his headset, or call back. And if it's not him, no harm done.) This time, I was speaking over a recording: "Please press 1 for an important message about Borders."
I thought, WTF? Did I give them my phone number at some point? Is there some problem with the Burlington store? Or could there be some crisis happening with all their stores, and fandom is getting scooped because it's happening THIS weekend and everybody's attention is elsewhere? So I pressed 1. "We believe good border policies are essential for our national well-being. Please educate yourself on these matters and vote accordingly. Thank you." (I may be misremembering some of the words, but the recording was just that specific.) Who do they mean, "we?" What do they mean, "good border policies?" What kind of "national well-being" are they talking about?
They didn't introduce themselves, so there's no way to check if they believe good border policies are non-racist and efficiently administered. Probably not...that kind of attitude doesn't usually inspire a robot calling campaign. I wonder what this robot calling campaign is trying to accomplish with the call? Can I expect their confederates to show up in a few days, trying to sell me books and CDs about border policies and national well-being?
