Prize Ballots
Yesterday, I attended Toronto’s Travel Show. It was pretty much a waste of space since I have specific financial goals this year that don’t include anything more extravagant than a road trip to Chicago. But, to get the best value out of my $5 entry fee, I filled out every single “win a free trip for two” ballot that I could. (I also sampled all the delicious booze that was being offered).
A few issues. First off, when filling out any form, what is the point of the Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss box? Do we still call people Mr Smith or Mrs Doe anymore? Isn’t that whole formal address a little passé?
My second complaint is about the whole spouse thing. A lot of the forms asked whether I was single or married. Fine. I assume there is some statistic they are working off about how much more often single or married people travel than the other. I get that. But what I was surprised to see, was that they asked for specific spouse names.
What the hell? Why on earth does that matter? Do more people who are married to guys named Frank travel more often than people who are married to men named Jack? I see no statistical purpose of getting this information. Are they putting it on there so that when they call me to sell me a vacation package, they can say “May I speak to Darcie or Criss Angel please?” Are they asking for it because one sex buys more vacations than the other? So when they call, they wont ask to speak to me because, statistically, the male decision maker in the house is more apt to purchasing getaways?
Puzzled by this, I asked a poor girl working the booth for some airline, what the purpose was of making me write down that I don’t have the power to make a man commit. She (of course) had no clue and looked at me like I was a nut. Her training, however, included a session on never letting a potential client leave with an unanswered question. So she made an admirable attempt at answering. “It’s because head office needs to know what kind of people come to the show.”
What kind of people huh? Can you tell what kind of people someone is by their marital status?
Tags: being single, travel alone
March 30th, 2009 at 9:37 am
It’s more that you DO have the power to make decisions.
Married folk make joint decisions, especially on things like vacations, so if they are going to target their pitch, they want to know if they can just talk to you, or if they need to get a spouse involved in the conversation. With a single person, they only have one person to sell.
I personally lie on those things anyway. Only give just as much information as needed to award you the prize.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
As a “Frank”, yes I do travel quite a bit. But too bad you entered all of those–the main prize they ALWAYS award is a lifetime of telemarketing phone calls!
March 30th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@ joe, I usually give them the information I think they are looking for.
@Frank- I LOVE telemarketing calls. It’s the only time it’s really ok to yell at someone you’ve never met.
March 30th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Uhm, so you’re not married to Gerald Butler then? I was hoping you’d win due to your spouse but I’d get to go because he’d be busy being an actor and all.
March 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I wish.