TELEPHONE RESEARCH
August 10, 2017
I have just hung up the phone after a seemingly endless lot
of questions regarding the recent unrequested switch of my
Mastercard to Visa with the National Australia Bank.
Unless it sounds like an overseas scam call I am hesitant to
fob them off as I briefly had an evening job once a week
doing research so am usually an agreeable if not terribly
enthusiastic respondent.
We would go to the Esso Oil offices in downtown Toronto
and use their office phones. We were given a page of the
local telephone book with a line marked under a name and
told to phone everyone from there down until end of shift.
Being the sexist 60’s we had to speak to the male motorist
of the house and ask if he would answer a few questions
about his petrol usage. Sound simple?
Well, firstly the questions filled two pages, and second it
was Hockey Night in Canada which 90% of the male
population watched, plus we started at 7.00 p.m. when
everyone had eaten and settled down to watch television.
It was hard work to get enthusiastic recipients to give their
time.
I tried to speak clearly in spite of my accent and turned on
the charm. The most responsive were elderly men, many of
whom had possibly not had a phone call for months and
after answering the questions usually asked “Where are you
from girlie?”, and when told “Australia”, settled in for a nice
chat about the Aussies they fought with in the war, what
great blokes they were, etc. etc.
One night I had a young sounding woman answer the phone
and when I told why I was calling, she handed the phone to
her resident ‘male motorist’. It sounded as though another
couple was there as well, having a few drinks and they were
very interested in hearing the questions I was asking, as the
host relayed them to his audience causing a few laughs. He
sounded very amused by it all and as the questions
progressed, the reaction from him and the listening group
became longer and louder laughter.
I was starting to get a bit giggly myself just listening to them
having such a good time with such a mundane topic. I
figured they must be smoking something.
I was more than half way through the questions when the
reaction from all four of them was mass hysteria. Through