Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Inoculation against too-good-to-be-true-itis

Today I got an automated call (or 'robit call' as Bill would say. I laugh every time he says robot and it comes out like robit) asking me to complete a 30 second political survey and informing me that I would be rewarded with a free 2 day cruise to the Bahamas. Highly skeptical yet curious, I answered the 3 questions and was transferred to a customer service representative working for the cruise line. I listened to her spiel, then told her I wasn't interested. She asked why and I said "I'm just not interested, thank you," but I thought "It sounds too good to be true. What kind of scam is this anyway?" There must be a catch, I reasoned. Who would give away a free 2 day cruise just for answering a 3 question survey? Maybe they lure you there with the promise of a free cruise, then trap you on a boat where you're hounded by timeshare salesmen and political fundraisers for 2 days.

I have a hard time accepting things that seem too good to be true. I start poking around looking for the fine print, the imperfections. Sometimes that's a good thing. The more I questioned the cruise line rep about what wasn't included (airfare, port fees, etc), the more this "free" cruise started to sound unappealingly expensive.

Still I know some things in life that seem too good to be true really are that good. Imperfectly, ridiculously, awesomely good. And I want to be able to recognize those times so I don't go poking around looking for trouble where there is none.

I need some kind of too-good-to-be-true-itis vaccination or a shut-up-and-enjoy-this button.

Bahamas, someday I will visit you, but probably not for free and definitely not for a mere 2 days.

Lyric of the moment: "You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you. You'd be like heaven to touch. I wanna hold you so much..."

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