I used to throw my card in, and I think I won a platter of sandwiches for my office five years ago, but I basically almost never do it anymore. Though apparently I did it a few months ago at a sushi restaurant in LA. So then I get this phone call:
Caller: "Hi, this is [name redacted] from blah blah blah financial. You put your business card in the fishbowl at Kabuki Sushi, and you've won a free lunch for yourself and 15 of your co-workers."
Me: "Sweet."
Caller: "Now let me tell you how the lunch works. First I give you a 5-10 minute spiel about blah blah blah financial and the services I offer, and then we order. I'll pay for all the food and the tip - no sake - and all you have to do is give me the contact information for all of your co-workers."
Me: "Let me ask you a question. Does everyone who puts their business card in the fishbowl 'win' a free lunch for 15 people?"
Caller: "Um. Yes."
So I passed. But what a scam - a smart one - I would never give some random salesman my contact info, but apparently I'd do it unwittingly if I thought I was getting a free lunch out of it.
5 comments:
Yeah, always heard alarm bells with those, but I thought I'd just get added to some list. Didn't realize they put so much effort into the sell.
I would take the free lunch in exchange for giving him a free donkey punch from the gimp in the closet.
That's awesome. Why don't you have all of the same colleagues put their business cards in the bowl. Then he will get worked because he will have to take out like 20 of you to only get the same 20 names.
Genius idea.
I am like the gambler who wins big the first time. I got the sandwich platter way back and never got scammed, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to keep playing.
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