Abaci's Common Sense Investing

Those Annoying Faxes

You are extremely lucky if you haven't received one yet. I got at least one marketing fax everyday and sometimes several a day. I used to think only companies using commercial lines would suffer, but this is apparently not the case. My brother used to receive plenty so he eventually threw away his fax machine. Now he still gets the long 'beep' calls just as frenquently.

Taking his lesson, when I applied for my residential line, I didn't tell PCCW that this would be a fax line. I also specifically asked that the telephone number assigned not to be a recycled commercial number. They got me a new number but guess what, the damn fax still arrives at my door everyday.

I eventually got really pissed off and started my 'call-back' campaign, i.e. calling back each company and asking them to stop sending faxes to me , in a gentle manner of course.

This campaign started two months ago and here's the preliminary findings.

(1) I'm still receiving offers to have my computer/printer fixed.
(2) 99% of the telephone operators are female.
(3) 0% of them would identify the name of the company when answering the phone. I heard only 'wei' or 'hello' 100% of the time.
(4) Sometimes I heard multiple phone ringing in the background which suggested I might be talking to a 'call centre'.
(5) I suspect sometimes I talk to the same operator twice on the same day. And I suspect she might recognize me too.

I also have the burning desire to know why the faxes are all about fixing computer/printer but not refridgerators, microwave, or DVD players? If there's enough variety then I might eventually find one useful.

The campaign shall continue and I'll post another update again.

One Life, One Love, One Gift

You are happy your friend has finally found the 'one' and settled down. You happily pay your due to attend the banquet, wishing them happy for the rest of their lives. Yet afterward you find yourself stuck with their token gift for the rest of your life too, which you have least expected.

What am I talking about? I'm talking about those little gifts you receive that hold tremendous value to your hosts but little value to anyone else. Take for example a couple of cute ceremic bride and groom with names and the wedding date etched on it. Some were even made to look like the couple themselves! How am I gonna do with it afterward? Do I need to display it in home so that I won't forget to call during anniversary, or so I can remember this happy day too for the rest of my life? Gosh my long term memory will be really running short if I have to remember so many happy days, and in some of those days I might just be drunk and had no memory.

Other times it's a cute car, a cute box, or cute anything, but the common theme is there's no real use. And I can't even re-gift it because it's got names on it. So in the end I had to secretly discard it. It's a waste of money and natural resources, not to mention those gifts may contain excess lead in paint which can be harmful to small children!

If any of you is planning a banquet please seriously DROP the idea of token gift, or simply give out chocolate instead. You guests will appreciate it immensely.

DISCLOSURE: I'm married and have nothing against marriage, just the gifts.