Disinterested

Unknown number. I paused for a second and up the phone anyway.

"Hello?"

Silence. I pulled it away from my ear, looked at the screen and pressed the green button.

"Hello?"

Silence for a second or two followed by an automated message.

"This is a call from your credit company."

"Great," I thought. "Do I still have problems with the stolen card number? I don't think I've paid for everything I actually bought during the period; though, I have paid for things that clearly weren't mine."

"There are no problems with your account at this time; however, this is our last attempt to lower your interest rate."

"Last attempt?" I wondered. "When was the first attempt? And why didn't they give the name of my credit card company? And why doesn't their number appear? The number always appears."

"Please press one to speak with a customer service agent and press two to decline further offers."

Intrigued, I pressed one, just to see what they would say.

"Customer service… Did you receive a message from us?"

"You just called me," I replied.

"We would like to lower the interest rates on all of your Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Does that interest you?"

"No. Not really."

She paused. I had not answered correctly.

"Can we send you an American Express and a Chase card?"

"I don't think so," I replied.

"Have a nice day."

I wondered what would have happened if I'd pressed two or if I'd said "yes" after pressing one. Would I have been asked for my current credit card numbers? For my mother's maiden name, my social security number and the name of my first dog?

I wondered what would have happened if the call had my mother. My grandmother. Any of a number of friends with busy schedules and distracted minds, less suspicious natures and crazy amounts of credit card debt.

I wondered if I wondered too much and it really was what it proposed to be.


Tag: Telephone Credit Cards