If you hear or read ‘Here’s an invitation,’ you might want to pass on it
Remember the scene from “The Jerk,” when Steve Martin’s character, Navin R. Johnson, gets a real thrill, while his boss, Harry Hartounian (Jackie Mason) plays down the situation?
Navin: “The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here!”
Harry: “Boy, I wish I could get that excited about nothing.”
Navin: “Nothing? Are you kidding? Page 73 — Johnson, Navin R.! I’m somebody now! Millions of people look at this book every day! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity — your name in print — that makes people. I’m in print! Things are going to start happening to me now.”
And they do, including him becoming a target.
If your name is published, listed, signed, printed, possibly even spoken, you, too, can become a target. Perhaps not the same as Navin (you’ll have to watch the movie to find out), but a target just the same.
You can be a target for any campaign (advertising, politcal, or otherwise), survey (pick a topic), recruitment, request … just about anything you can imagine that needs/wants support.
And that generally means financial.
In the past week alone, I’ve been “invited” to join or learn more about …
* A tea party. Yep, that one.
* Two political parties. Someone didn’t check the rolls.
* A “new, wonderful opportunity to build a better” me. If I would send money, I would find out how.
* An insurance company that said it could guarantee it can beat anyone else’s rates. Interesting, because that same company had the second highest rates of any I checked when I was comparing them months ago.
* A company that said if I would send $5, I would receive a list of freebies. If I have to pay for the list, then nothing is really free, right?
* A chance to help throw out an elected office-holder “who is wrecking our American system.” All I have to do is send money, which, I figure, might wreck my system of paying the bills.
* At least three “Who’s Who” groups, each congratulating me on my selection for inclusion in their elite organizations. They “invited” me to see my entry. All I had to do was pay a whopping fee for their books that listed me.
* A friendly notice that my account was being frozen due to an improper usage. If I would contact them, they would help rectify the situation. How about NO usage? I don’t have such an account.
Each of these was by mail or by email. There have been others by phone, which is another sore spot. I was among those signing up for a no-call list some time ago. It worked for about a month.
Caller ID catches many of the irritating nuisance calls we get these days, but we warn our friends and family that if we get a NUMBER UNAVAILABLE, an UNAVAILABLE, or some other nondescript message, we will not answer.
Bottom line is, we pick our “targets” too. Like you, we pick and choose where the money goes.
Learn more about how to manage money and solicitors at the following locations:
http://knowit.newsok.com/money-oklahoma
http://knowit.newsok.com/charity-oklahoma
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