“Hello, I want to talk with Raimundo Andrade!” …
Ok, here I go again. Those of you who know me… know that i hate it when people call me… pretending to know who I am… assume that I speak Spanish… and start chattering off in a language other than English. This is an extension of that fact… and it really got my goat. Last night… my roommate Dave was telling me how he hates people calling up… trying to track down deadbeats. For Instance… John Doe… owes $18,000 in unsecured credit card debt to a Visa company…. the department of the company…. who is charged with getting the Dead Beat John Doe to cough up the money…. says “Well, John Doe” is off the radar… he has gone to ground. If he lost his house and stuff…. he is probably living with relatives in Orlando, FL. There are 500 Doe families in Orlando (made up number) so let’s call all 500 of them… and catch them off guard… and tell them that John Doe needs to pay. We will track him down somehow… no matter the cost!”
Pretty crappy huh? No sooner had Dave and I finished discussing this… the phone rang. Guess what? Yup…. “Hello, I want to talk to Raimundo Andrade!”. I thought for a split second…and then responded “what makes you think that a Raimundo Andrade is associated with this phone number?” He answered “Well, they told me to call this number because Raimundo Andrade is living there.” I countered “Who are ‘they’ and why are they telling you to bother me…. there is no Raimundo Andrade here. I do not know a Raimundo Andrade!”
The guy says that he knows that Raimundo Andrade is in my house and he demands to talk to him. I was getting mad… I told him “Look… You are pronouncing Andrade like a spaniard would pronounce it… my family does not say our name that way… as we are not Spanish/latino.”
I told him “Look, I know the game you are playing… or the game that your company is playing. they are throwing the net wide… trying to get a lead on Raimundo Andrade… and they don’t care how much of my time they waste… because if Raimundo Andrade owes you 18K… and you can collect even part of it…. the company will give you 75% of it… and take 25% of whatever you recover. Got it. That being said…. I don’t live with Raimundo Andrade, I don’t know a Raimundo Andrade… nor, in the near or distant future do I even remotely think I will meet a Raimundo Andrade. Please dude… help me out here. I am hereby requesting that you remove my name, my address, and my phone number…. from your records… as I am in no way associated with Raimundo Andrade!”
The guy had to laugh… after I was done… he said “you are a sharp guy dude… I will remove your contact information from this account.” I thanked him and recognized that he needed to work for a living too…. and thanked him for his help. Also I wished him a good evenening.
It just kills me with this type of crap. Guilty until proven innocent. You are assumed to be harboring a Dead Beat… until you prove you are not. I cannot tell you how many times I get harassed looking for Sheniqua Jones, among a host of others! This type of action should be illegal! Anyway… for the record…. I do not know anybody by the name of Raimundo Andrade!
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