Let's go over this one more time.

[mrissa]

No, my mom and dad aren't home. Or rather, my mom may be home, but I don't know, because her home is ten minutes from here, and I don't make her get a permission slip from me before going to the post office. This is my home. I own it. I am the homeowner.

If you are trying to sell me something, assuming that I have no buying power is a bad idea. If you are trying to sell me something that will cost four to five figures, assuming that I have no buying power is a really bad idea.

Sigh.

Comments

Eesh

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

The weirdness that boogles me is all the credit card offers Benni gets. This started when he was sixteen. (The flip side of that is he can't get a student loan from sallie mae without a cosigner.) I don't usually have my phone on. When Ben was home he used to get pitches for siding too.

[aet.livejournal.com]

"If you are trying to sell me something, assuming that I have no buying power is a bad idea."

Especially as my eldest son started negotiating (as he was underage, I DID need to come in to sign, but that was ONLY thing I did) the phone and other communication contracts for the family when he was around 13 years old.

So the businesses that refused to deal with a 13 year old customer lost from 5 to 7 (when he was also on lookout for good deals for his grandparents) customers by being rude to someone they saw as too young to make such decisions. Never a good idea to assume!

[panjianlien.livejournal.com]

Oy. Sorry, hon.

Feeling your pain ...

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

i hate looking 19. Sometimes.

[theferret.livejournal.com]

*hands you sharp, pointy stick* I hate when they do that. The last time that happened to me I told them that I didn't realize as a 20-something year old I should still be living with my parents and I wasn't interested in whatever they were selling (I believe they asked if my mommy or daddy was there).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I am interested in a new driveway, or more to the point in not dealing with the problems of our old driveway. (Very few of us are ever truly interested in a new driveway.) So I can't even say that I definitely won't use these people, just that it's a point against them.

[theferret.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. I live in an apartment though so things like that aren't really useful for me. They've asked for Mrs. G---- and I've said there is no one here by that name.

[pezwitch.livejournal.com]

We got a new driveway two years ago. Definitely not interesting, but necessary.

predictably Kev

[greykev.livejournal.com]

ooh ooh! I'm interested in new driveways! Not even my own new driveway even! Did you know you can have the concrete tinted different colors? green, blue, rust, black, tan--I wonder if a black driveway would melt the snow/ice off faster? Though a blue or green one would simplify directions: 'look for the house with the teal driveway...' and you can get fiber mesh (read 'little plastic strands') mixed in so that cracks are minimized! The down side being that after a little breaking in the drive looks like it's sprouted hair, but you can burn them off easy with one of those blowtorch bottle things. (best to wear a mask against harmful smoke though) Ooh! and given the slope of yours I'd ask a lot of questions about what type of fill they'll use, and if they'll put drain tile under it for you: positive=less chance of wash-out, settling, shifting, etc negative=greater chance for cracks along the tile if poorly filled/tamped.

Re: predictably Kev

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, you are the reason I said "very few of us" instead of "none of us."

And no, we don't want a teal driveway.

Although I kind of hope scottjames and mormor1 read this comment and think of each other.

Re: predictably Kev

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

I did.

Did anybody else mentally pull up short at the idea of a hairy driveway?

Re: predictably Kev

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ayep.

[skwirly.livejournal.com]

I had one caller that went through three or four iterations of asking for somebody else -- one of which included 'the man of the house' -- before he figured out that a) I might actually have been the person he was supposed to talk to and b) it was far too late now.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Oh lord. I had someone show up at my apartment asking for "the man of the house". I threw them out.

[sensational.livejournal.com]

I almost always get "can I speak to one of your parents?" from telemarketers, because I apparently sound like a 12 year old on the phone.

[pariyal.livejournal.com]

We found out today that my thirteen-year-old daughter sounds exactly like me on the phone.

[fgherman.livejournal.com]

My 16 year old daughter and I have the same problem. At least she conducts herself maturely on the phone.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My mom and I sound very similar. I pick up the phone when I'm at their house and I'm the person closest to it, but I have to warn people like my uncle Bill, because he'll hear the voice and assume it's my mom.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Do you have a particularly high voice? I have not noticed this.

I myself sound like Minnie Mouse and no one has ever asked me this. Odd.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No, I'm an alto. But this was in person, not over the phone.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

In person?

You're kidding. I don't get it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Me, either, hon.

Hmm ...

[jymdyer.livejournal.com]

=v= Are you answering the door in your Xmas nightshirt that makes you look 12?

Re: Hmm ...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ohh, sure, you post one picture of Christmas morning with the family, and you hear about it for years!

Seriously: no. Jeans and a dark green boatneck top.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

When I answer the phone at the reference desk I get addressed as "ma'am" about once a week. Some times repeatedly in the same interaction. I *live* for the ones who ask (always at the end of the conversation) "and who am I speaking with?" absolutely LIVE for the moment of silence after I answer, and not one has apologized to me for assuming I'm a woman.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

When I was assigned Parents' Fund calls as my workstudy at Gustavus, before I knew enough to tutor/TA, the books would all have notes in them from previous workstudy students. There was one where they had listed, "Woman sounds like man -- do not assume," which I thought was good policy in general. But it wasn't just an ambiguous voice, it was a rumbly bass.

You, however, are not a soprano.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

I used to have that problem. I usually just replied, "This is MRS. Realname, can I help you?" Assuming it was someone I wanted to talk to.

If not ... well, I never actually referred them to some enemy's number, but I thought about it.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

My husband used to have a coworker who had such a high little-girl voice that she was routinely asked "Is your mommy home?" Not in person, though.

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Argh, that's so frustrating.

But maybe it's saving you money? :D

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

You all know about the "do not call" registry you can sign up for (there's a federal one, and many states have it, too)? It eliminates all telemarketers except charities and politicians.

For years after my mother died, we'd still get cold calls from people asking to speak with her. "She's dead," pretty much stopped them in their tracks.

As for looking young in person, M'rissa, I realize it's annoying now. You'll be loving it when you're in your 40s, though!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You know, people say that every time, but I haven't seen any link between people who looked young at one age and stayed looking young at another! Some people seem to instantly age 25 years in strange and subtle ways. From looking at a friend's family pictures, it became apparent that her mom looked 18 until suddenly one day she looked 50. Boom! Like that. So.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No, unfortunately we really do have to buy a new driveway and front step from somebody, and I doubt that this guy is going to give me the "oh crap I'm sorry I thought you were the babysitter" discount.