Okay, this is work-related, but it isn't a rant. See, I'm trying here!
My boss put his business card in one of those fishbowls salespeople place out in restaurants to farm names and numbers from.
Well, his card got drawn and he "won" a free lunch for 15 people courtesy of American Express Financial Advisors.
In order to get the free lunch everyone would have to listen to a presentation about their services and then they would get to eat, fully expecting to receive a follow-up call from the rep.
I didn't go. "Free" is all well and good and everything, but there just seems something wrong about having to be solicited to get your prize. I certainly do not need any advisement from American Express.
Have you ever been to one of these deals? Was it worth it?
Posted by Tiffany at March 2, 2005 11:41 AMI was tricked into one of those Lunch and Learn things before. My employer didn't warn us about the presentation though. The AMEX Rep. hounded me for the longest time after the luncheon. The biggest kicker is you have to pay the Rep. for their services. Free lunch, pay for services. You did the right thing by not showing up.
Posted by: MsThing at March 2, 2005 12:07 PMTime is money, them wasting my time would be like them wasting my money. This wasn't a free lunch, it was a marketing meeting with food as the prize.
Nope, not worth it unless you are allowed to mock the presentation while its being given.
Posted by: Johnny Huh? at March 2, 2005 05:56 PMYou hit the nail on the head, Momotrip--I really don't want to be bothered with putting myself in a group social situation unless it'll benefit me.
I totally suck at making smalltalk. I really have nothing to say after "Fine, and you?" Mostly because I don't care what the weather is like at that moment in Duluth or that the Panthers have a good team this year. I'm Southern, so I can usually make a person feel like I'm hospitable for at least two minutes, but after that the angst kicks in and I'm just going "mm hmm."
Posted by: Tiffany at March 2, 2005 09:21 PMYeah, just like my husband. It just means you're better at your main, close relationships. You're picky about with whom you choose to spend your time. Scott probably thinks you are the greatest person ever and you connect very well and really "get" each other. However, there are probably people that at first didn't quite understand why he wanted to be with you - until you "let them in" and they got to know how really cool you are. My family kind of didn't understand how I could be with such a "standoffish" person when we first got together. In fact, some of them were afraid of him. Now that they know him they realize that he's funny and charming and a wonderful man. People like you just need your space and time to decide who's worthy. People like Scott and I are the lucky ones who benefit!
Posted by: Momotrips at March 2, 2005 09:57 PMYeah, I got suckered into one of those. The AMEX chickie wouldn't leave me alone, either. Besides the fact that they're all deceptive about getting you to lunch in the first place, I couldn't bring myself to take financial advice from someone named "Star Marie."
Posted by: Erica at March 5, 2005 12:24 PMHhahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaaha
My god I cannot stop laughing
Hahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhaahhahahahahahahahaha
How can you seriosuly expect someone who did not graduate with a finance degree (if they graduated at all) to give fiancial advice? Series 7 exam cram is good enough for AMEX huh?
Posted by: John at May 6, 2005 02:23 PMWell, I just got a call from the AMEX people that I won a free lunch for 9 of my coworkers- I had done the same thing- put my contact info in a fishbowl. Your comments helped. I don't think I should take it. I certainly do not want me and my coworkers to be hounded by Amex reps.
Posted by: Priya at May 9, 2005 03:06 PM