An Empty Day …

Well, not really … but it’s not a bad one liner to get the motor started and, in doing so, prove to myself that, indeed, an empty day it is not.

Actually several issues are at the forefront,  some of them deal with the ever ongoing fight to get one of these transactions, which seem to be ready one day, only to find out the next that it was an illusion of sorts. The latest roadblock seems to be the ongoing financial crisis in Europe … major banks are hesitant to issue guarantee documents and minor, fringe banks are not acceptable. Maybe because these last are always ready to issue guarantee documents, even when these go beyond their declared assets … If we did this in our everyday account, we would be hit with an overdraft surcharge … but some of these same banks get away with the proverbial murder.

I received last night an e-mail offer to have my name “numeroloread” (there goes another coined word!!). It was a “free” offer to look at what the numbers have in store for me. I have learned that whenever the offer tended has the word “free” it usually means there is a money hook at the end of said offer. My favorite?  “Folks … when you call in we will show you our thanks by sending you a … FREE GIFT” … Huh??  Isn’t the very nature of a gift that it is, indeed, free? The hyperbole used by the marketing world, especially in the now ubiquitous “infomercials” that pollute the cable TV world, is astounding. 

We can have our colon cleansed, our noses cleaned, the hair on our bodies eliminated, age erased and face lines ironed; bad cholesterol lowered and the fat around our middles reduced to a blubbering mass of, well, blubber …  all this and much more for a mere  $49.99 per month. I never thought I would see the day when becoming “eternal” could be so cheap. Too bad there is never an offer for a $49.99 “smarts” pill, guaranteed to help you look beyond what is on the screen and into what is behind the offer.

When one of these pitches comes my way and is interesting enough to be explored I call in to see what gives and, usually, am subjected to a pitch by a robot like human who is reading from a script. I can tell how new is the script reader by his/her reaction to my usual opening line … To the “And How Are We Today?’ said too loudly and with a 1000 Watt smile on (never varies) my answer is usually “Not well…” Then, the poor fool who hasn’t quite graduated yet “Script Reading 101”, without missing a beat or, for that matter listening, answers … “That’s Good!!!” and launches into the rest of the story … So pathetic, it becomes funny.

Marketing is an art which escapes most of these midnight gurus. Don’t get me wrong … many do make more money than you and I together and to most people this justifies the barrage of garbage they subject the viewing world to.  The stations also find a way to pay the bills, by simply charging for the time and avoiding any production costs. The other night I became so exasperated by the lack of actual late night programming, that part of my sleep time was spent in looking at the first 500 or so available cable outlets. My Lord!!! A full 65% of these were in infomercial mode… jewelry, vacuum cleaners, free courses for any number of topics, the most available were on how to make money by the truckload… What the speaker fails to mention is that the only person making the money by the bushel, is the guy pitching the “free offers”.

Speaking of marketing … Sometime ago one of the blogs dealt with the religion “industry”. This came about because one day while going to a client’s house, I actually counted 15 small “neighborhood” churches; all of different denominations and all espousing that each was unique in its approach to communicating with Our Lord… Folks, there were more neighborhood churches than neighborhoods!! I have attended, “parishioned”, “fellowed” and congregated at several churches along the way. In too many of these small congregations a regular day-to-day person receives “the call” and becomes a Pastor in one of several, relatively easy, ways (not to be confused with those churches where the ministers must pass several years of study). This allows him to preach (His strength) to a group of congregants, pass the Word according to his view or the view of the corporate church his chapter represents and, most importantly, receive the tithes, donations and pledges, all in cash please and to be divided with the sponsoring church … a not too shabby franchising business.

With luck, the pinnacle is attained when the pastor manages to open a TV chapter of his church, for he is then open to receive more of these offerings. Many large churches have made TV their medium, reaching an average of 100,000 viewers in any one show. Some well known pastors, of course, reach many times those numbers.  Figure that if only 30% of the viewers send in an average of $40.00 … each show will bring in over $1M … not bad … not bad at all! Perhaps this explains the huge buildings, designer clothes and the limos waiting at the door…

Anyway … we regular folks go on with this “empty day” and proceed to deal with the more mundane issues we must solve day in and day out, right?

Be Well …  Be Back!! ….

And don’t forget to set aside 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon!!

Final Notes:

• Pray for those who are fighting an illness which may take them away from their loved ones… This is the original "Wireless" phone ...Every request is heard, and counts!!
• Any comments please send to otherboxp@yahoo.com; it comes directly to me. I promise to read all coming messages, and answer as many as I can.
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