OK, so my wife gets a phone call from a woman whom she met when they were both studying in England in 1996. They haven’t seen or spoken to each other since my wife returned 8 years back.
My first thought was, “Is she selling insurance?”
My wife verbally backhanded me across the room and said I was being mean. So we pick her up in Taipei today, as she’s spending the night at our house. The two or them go out to dinner and I take jdson home. Three hours later, they return. My wife says nothing about their dinner. I figure, Hey, it’s been a long time. Three hours isn’t that much time to catch up, but my spider sense is tingling. So I quietly ask her in the bedroom, “Did she try to sell you insurance?”
The wife says, “Yes, now be quiet.”
This is not the first time this has happened. “Old friends” appear once or twice a year, sometimes showing up with junior members of their weird makeup cult, or natural medicine cult, or the godamned insurance cults. The wife says no and then then never call again. WTF!?
I REALLY want to tell this woman off, as I feel what she’s done is incredibly low.
My wife had an old middle school classmate contact her out of the blue a few years ago… first time in contact since middle school… and my wife is nearing 50 yrs old… yessir… wanted to sell my wife some insurance.
Insurance salespeople are like that the world over. In other industries, it would be called “networking”, “riding the gravy train”, or sometimes even “catching up with old friends”.
I wouldn’t worry about it. Just get the agent’s follow-up calls to go thru you.
My wife had an old middle school classmate contact her out of the blue a few years ago… first time in contact since middle school… and my wife is nearing 50 yrs old… yessir… wanted to sell my wife some insurance.[/quote]
This is NOT rare. My wife still remembers her middle school friends and sees them from time to time in Shinchuang where she grew up.
So, what? They all keep ALL their old phone numbers to track people down when they have no shame left?
I’m going to have my wife go on the offensive and track them down first and offer to teach them English! grrrr
[quote=“Infidel”][quote=“jdsmith”]
I’m going to have my wife go on the offensive and track them down first and offer to teach them English! grrrr[/quote]
Is there any point in getting grumpy, jd?
Try showering her in Hello Kitty badges.
Never fails!
Peace [/quote]
Well, I don’t get grumpy much, so when I do, I like to give it my all.
Yes, usually old friends in Taiwan doesn’t call you up nowhere just wanted to chit-chat with you or re-connect. (Some of them do, of course) I’ve contacted my elementary school friend in TW because she was my best friend and I heard she was around my area to study English.
I think your wife is toooo nice to have her stay over at your house as well. I hope you guys didn’t end up buying insurance from her.
I got blindsided with the “old friends” of the Mrs… Tried to get us hooked on some sort of Amway. Suffered through dinner but made my displeasure known.
JDS-
Don’t worry about it. Its the same the world over. Sales is a numbers game and thats all there is to it.
I’ve had the same thing happen with the wife here…Old schoolmate calls her, meets her, does the pitch, wife gets PO’d, I get hell for calling it when she cmes home with a frown instead of a happy story…blah blah blah.
No big deal.
Oh…I have some left-over laundry powder you might be interested in…give me a call…and also…would you like the opportunity to have a for free? Just for talking to your friends?…call me, we’ll do lunch!
Mrs Huang freshly reeling after the death of her ex and father of her kid in an auto accident, decides buying insurance is a good idea. Well, she has this friend you see . . . three months later and surprised there’s been no contact with the famous international insurer, she calls the company. “No, we have no record of you”.
Three months later (and because it’s Thailand, several cops suitably fattened) the money is returned. Amazing.
It’s networking, right? Isn’t networking widely praised in Western business books?
It’s also tacky, but most sales tactics are tacky, aren’t they? And the insurance industry is thoroughly tacky: trying to sell products the purchasers hope they’ll never need (most insurance policies), trying to sell products that are a stupid waste of money (whole life insurance), especially given that the companies will use every trick in the book to avoid delivering what they promised in the event of a claim. And as we all know, Taiwanese often lack social tact, asking how much one earns or telling a stranger he is fat. So, combine all of that: a culture of people who often lack social tact, engaging in networking to promote sales in a tacky industry and it’s got to come across poorly.
You’re not married are you? At least not to a Taiwanese woman? I have learned long ago to keep my mouth shut about my wife’s gullibility and pray that gradually she will learn.
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]
You’re not married are you? At least not to a Taiwanese woman? I have learned long ago to keep my mouth shut about my wife’s gullibility and pray that gradually she will learn.[/quote]
from experience i feel that this strategy is suboptimal
game theory suggests that not keeping your mouth shut and praying she learns quick is better
you don’t want a struggle, just a short quick tap back to reality. be right enough times and it will be noticed! of course you’ll catch shit but that will happen either way
There are no “friends”. Just “prospects”. Guanxi. Giri. Back scratching - same the world over. A relative of mine was talked into joining the Falungong this way. “Money is your burden, let us relieve you of your burden” kind of thing. She’s out now, but a lot poorer. I don’t know which is worse, an evil cult, or selling insurance.
[/quote]
for free? Just for 
