On this blog, I work really hard to see the value in each and every idea. It's far better to look for possibilities in a "bad" idea, than to simply dismiss it outright and walk away. After all, who knows where a really awful idea might lead.
But sometimes I run across an idea so awful that it makes me cringe. Not often, but it happens.
Like when the phone rang last night during dinner. We're on the Do Not Call list, so I assumed that it would be a friend.
Nope.
I picked up the phone to hear a click, and then a mechanical voice. "Please hold while we connect you to the next available representative."
Sadly, I didn't stick around long enough to get a name that I could point fingers at. It was dinnertime, after all, and my food was getting cold.
On some levels, I can see what thought process someone used to come up with this marketing system. After all, it lets them operate with a smaller number of employees, and ensures that they don't have to waste their time calling people who aren't home.
Seriously though! Why would anyone ever think it was a good idea to combine dinner-interrupting calls, telemarketing, and waiting on hold?
One the other hand, I might be just looking at this the wrong way. Maybe their goal wasn't to sell, but to come up with an extremely effective way to truly alienate their potential customers.
In that case, well done!
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