Yesterday I received a new card in the mail for one of my credit card accounts. As usual it required calling in to activate the card. The activation process is, of course, partially about security and partially about trying to get me to sign up for additional services or card features.
When I called last night I ended up on the line with a particularly friendly young man who did a nice job making his script seem less, well, scripted. Near the end he tried to sell me on a card upgrade. (A Visa "Signature" card, ooooh!) At that point he apparently had a lot of freedom to deviate from the script. Unfortunately for him it didn't go so well. You see, apparently his elementary school teachers didn't spend much time on the American geography portion of the curriculum. While trying to hype the card upgrade, he suddenly asked, "So how is New England today?"
"Uhh, what?" I awkwardly responded.
"I see you are from New England. How is the weather there today?" At that point it dawned on me what he was talking about. On his computer screen it said I was from NE. That's New England, one of the fourteen original colonies. From then on I let him keep asking me about the state of New England, while all my answers were about Nebraska. It made for a bizarre conversation and I had a heck of a time not laughing. Boy, did he sure try hard to relate to me in the great state of New England.
In the end I had to break the news to him that I had no interest in the fancy new card he tried to sell me. He was disappointed -- I think he thought I was a sure check on his quota sheet -- but friendly to the end. At least now he knows that New England is a damn fine place to live. Perhaps one day he'll come to visit.
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On a high school choir trip to Washington, D.C. 16 years ago, we were on a cruise on the Potomac with several other high schools from around the country. The kids from a school in New York City were astounded we were from Nebraska - “That’s a territory, right?”.
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