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| Thread ID: 46616 | 2004-06-30 04:52:00 | Off Topic - I really really .... really .... hate this | Biggles (121) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 248539 | 2004-06-30 06:24:00 | Consider the interesting case of the South Seas Bubble, provenance circa 1711, which gives some interesting lessons. "The most absurd and preposterous (business proposal) of all, and which showed, more completely than any other, the utter madness of the people, was one started by an unknown adventurer, entitled "A company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is." Were not the fact stated by scores of credible witnesses, it would be impossible to believe that any person could have been duped by such a project." Jonathon Swift wrote: "Subscribers here by thousands float, And jostle one another down, Each paddling in his leaky boat, And here they fish for gold, and drown.” That eminent putative genius Isaac Newton lost $20,000 – a large sum of money for those – in the South Seas Bubble. Afterwards he (“a sadder and a wiser man” as Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted in another context) ruefully remarked “I can calculate the motions of planets, but not the madness of people”. However Bruce, that’s all far away and long ago (which is the title of one of W H Hudson’s books, also from Meatloaf). Right now I have some funds that I urgently need to get out of Nigeria. As you are clearly a man of enterprise and ambition, perhaps I can persuade you to help me with the transfer fee ….. |
rugila (214) | ||
| 248540 | 2004-06-30 06:28:00 | In a softer moment I listened to a spiel about winning a trip somewhere and if I could go to some meeting. I went. They were selling Timeshare and as soon as the $$ were announced I was out of there. Waste of time but taught me a valuable lesson for all calls since. I have used the, "No thanks not interested" and then hung up, "I work for your opposition so no thanks", "No I am not the householder I am just housesitting...... leave your number and I will get him to call you", I have to ask the boss and she isnt home now" and "Not a good time for me as I was just made redundant!" (3 times so far) I would agree that this "energy drink" is just bait to get you into one of those multi level marketing grounps so I am picking someone who knows you Bruce (maybe even in a fleeting moment) has dropped your name. My number is now confidential and I have caller display so if the number is unknown then they have the opportunity to talk to my machine. |
sam m (517) | ||
| 248541 | 2004-06-30 06:28:00 | nd there was this so called Art person > asking for the house owner so I have to go and see > this guy :( Anyway, he showed me all of his work > and ask me which one i likel, I think Consumer mentioned this - massproduced "paintings" from Asia...sold by anyone with nothing to do .... |
TonyF (246) | ||
| 248542 | 2004-06-30 06:56:00 | ROFLMAO...... thats a good one rugila. on a another note, we get tham heaps here, half the time asking for us by name, we also have an unlisted number??? the private line / net line. that gets these calls to??? how do they get that number? i am sad to say i get a little short with them and when they dont take no for an answer they here the beep beep beep sound when i hang up. where does the privacy act come into all this? i often get phone calls, faxs, and letters, and the multitude of emails to me???? and have great delight in hitting delete, and shred lots....:D and often think why am i so special...... as i really cant see the point in most of these things.... But Bruce makes you wonder which of your friends or work acquiantances...etc gave out your card or had the verve to give your name? and why???? and while we are at it could i interest you in a ........????? :p beetle |
beetle (243) | ||
| 248543 | 2004-06-30 07:02:00 | What bugs me is that anyone can freely request (and receive) information from the LTSA database. GRRRRRRR @ Noel Leemings / Pacific Retail Finance. |
antmannz (28) | ||
| 248544 | 2004-06-30 07:26:00 | I get 'recommended' as someone with "ambition, drive, and a desire to suceed" by unknown acquaintances too . The spiel generally starts along the lines of 'we have this amazing product that's so special I can't tell you anything about it so you will have to come along to a presentation to see how blown away you will be' . I say politely but firmly, thanks, but no thanks, then the usual tact taken is like . . . . "don't you want to earn 100's of dollars a week?" "don't you care about you and your family's financial security?" "you are saying you don't want to be part of a world-wide success story?" (that they are too scared to tell you what it is???!!!) All stupid questions . Anyway, didn't Amway change their name to something less recognised (yeah, like that's what successful businesses do, become less known in the market!) . Yep, just Googled it and they did, in 2000, change to "Alticor", encompassing Quixtar Inc, Access Business Group and Pyxis Innovations . Talk about a mouthful of names . . . . . . Pond scum would have been a better choice ;) Grrrrrrr - You have touched one of my pet hates, Bruce . . . . thanks for that mate, will have to go have a liedown now, or thrash Forgotten Hope till my fingers bleed . J :D |
Jester (13) | ||
| 248545 | 2004-06-30 08:30:00 | Hi Bruce, If you got the call at work, maybe they saw your name in PCWorld, or maybe looked up names in the White pages. Either way, it would be fairly easy to say they got your name from a friend etc. Next time, piss them off (by following Scouses ?) advice and just put the phone down and leave the caller waiting for you to come back. They were probably using a cell phone anyway and it might cost them a few bob....... |
Baldy (26) | ||
| 248546 | 2004-06-30 08:30:00 | A lot of good and enjoyment can be had from scammers, read on . More years ago than I care to consider too deeply, my wife and I went to a timeshare presentation with the lure of a free coffee maker for our newly set up household at the forefront of our minds (stingey bloody wedding guests to thank for lack of said appliance) . When we arrived, we noticed boxes of coffee makers and other goodies displayed in the entry foyer, no doubt a display of their integrity and good intentions . Well, we hung in there for the whole thing and after what seemed to be an age we were sat in an adjoining, more intimate, room with the other hottest prospects, where we received individual attention from very bright and breezy people who I am convinced had just come from shooting a toothpaste advert and were still playing the role . After a bit of time spent listening once again to the advantages of the product a champagne cork popping at a nearby table seemed to trigger something because out came a contract and a nice gold pen, "ah no thanks we would really like to think this over, it's a big commitment you know, where's the coffee maker?" . The toothpaste advert is definitely over now except for on the dial of the MC of the show who comes bounding over to our table (he must have ESP) . How's it going folk's . . . blah . . . blah . . blah . . . No thanks, where's the coffee maker . Uh oh, he's just sucked on something really really sour . Then another psychic dude comes over, he's dressed in a suit, not informally like the others, and he's never been in a toothpaste ad in his life and never will be . They start with there plan C spiel and quickly escalate that to threats and outright abuse when we continue to ask for the coffee maker with a few threats of our own just to show we're getting into the spirit of the occasion . "Have you ever heard of Fair Go?" was the one that did it though . I think they new the Fair Go team quiet well because, we were out of that building in about 30 seconds flat with a shiny new coffee maker in our possession and a couple of parting shots ringing in our ears . That was a very cheap and enjoyable evenings entertainment and the coffee later that night and for many more was absolutely superb . The moral of this story is, if your going to scam someone don't use real, top quality goods as bait . Cheers Murray P |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 248547 | 2004-06-30 10:06:00 | Interesting. Some people I would not call ambitious, they would take it as an insult. Funny thing, tonight someone with an Indian accent rang and asked if there was a married couple living here. My son answered the call and immediately did his best Apu voice and did a panic and ended with a "my goodness gracious me, no thank you very much." It was not PC, but was funny (he's 11). robo. |
robo (205) | ||
| 248548 | 2004-06-30 10:19:00 | Just did a search on this page for "Amway" using Firefox's "Find in this page" . (a handy tool !) . Sure enough the word was found in Jester's comments . The thing I particularly dislike about Amway (there are lots of things) is that the people approaching you do not say what the organisation is, they flannel about saying about "opportunities", "make lots of money", "do it in your spare time", "only a few hours a week, you can spare that, can't you" . Yet though they are supposed to be proud of their organisation they avoid saying the name . They just want to get you along to a presentation . It is a good way to cool a friendship, or even occasionally lose them, I guess ! ********************************************* Not too long ago I was contacted by someone from "Circle Research" . The person asked me if I wanted to take part in market research for only one minute . I was asked a number or questions then the penultimate before I was asked how much I/we earned etc . That question was "If the government had an approved system of how you could save 50% of your tax would you learn more" . I quizzed the person asking the questions a, "Charles Livingstone", a young person who may not know any better, and it became very apparent that he was preparing the ground for someone to approach me to sell for "Circle Asset" or "Circle Assets", I am not certain now whether it was plural or not . Unfortunately he could not understand that the approach to say "market research" and the selling of a product were incompatible . I wrote to the Commerce Commission and the Market Research Institute (or something like that) . The Commerce Commission said that it was outside their brief - to which I responded that they clearly lacked teeth . Misty :O X-( |
Misty (368) | ||
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