2005.04.07 ~05 another suspiciously scammish phone call Got another suspicious phone call, this time offering $200 in coupons for a shopping spree, mentioning enough department store names to trigger Carnivore. Also, I was told this month was Consumer Appreciation Month... but that it was really in March. When I pressed about the previous "Consumer Appreciation Month" call from January, the caller sidestepped the question quite overtly, trying to rush through a script. Quite obviously a script, since he didn't seem to want to sidetrack from his side of the conversation. The repeated words were also a giveaway of a script; I kept interrupted and he'd keep trying to resume with the exact same words. I don't know about other people, but reading off a script gives me the impression of an ulterior motive in play. The clincher was when he mentioned free movie passes in addition to the coupons, good for ANY MOVIE (no exceptions!). When pressed for names of which theaters, he listed so many theater chains, even those I know aren't even remotely close to California, that all I could do was just retort "That's bullshit!" and hung up right there. Note: free movie passes, espeically those given to the unwashed masses (me), have close to 0% chance of being honored for Super Duper Ultra Premiere Specials, such as Day 1 of the next Star Wars movie. That, and no way in hell every movie theater in the nation/world will simultaneously decide to honor a blanket movie pass, franchising notwithstanding. TANSTAAFL -- Economics 101.