Things We're Not

I just got a call asking if I was the Humane Society.
— James Howard

I once had a phone conversation that went like this:

Lady: Hello, I'm calling for Purple Heart.
Me: I think you have the wrong number.
Lady: What makes you think that?
Me: Because I'm not Purple Heart.
Lady: No, no, I'm Purple Heart.
Me: Oh, I see!

Not quite so dramatic as the time when a woman called soliciting donations for "Special Olympics". I declined.* She exclaimed: "What have you got against crippled children!"

But amusing, to me at least.
———-
* For good reason. This was maybe two decades ago, at a time when there were "Olympics this" and "Olympics that", "Olympics" absolutely everywhere. And yet the founders of the International Gay Games (the world's largest sporting event) were being sued by the International Olympic Committee who objected to the appearance of "Olympics" in the phrase "Gay Olympics" — they couldn't let the word "Olympics" be used by just anybody. I was pissed about that when the rude woman called on behalf of "Special Olympics".

Posted on December 17, 2009 at 18.06 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Laughing Matters

One Response

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  1. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Friday, 18 December 2009 at 02.10
    Permalink

    That exchange with Purple was funny.

    The thing that gets off with me about some of the calls we get to donate to charities is that I know I'm likely to be talking to a phone jockey for an intermediary outfit that will get something north of 80 percent of any donation I make.

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