REFLECTIVE MOMENTS

What will hotel prize cost the winners?

I might have just turned down the best Christmas present ever to come uninvited to our household.

But then again, maybe this gift horse needed to be looked in the mouth.

It was a typical day: doing paperwork, baking a festive cake in a dysfunctional oven, catching up on dishes waiting to be scrubbed, making to-do lists in my head. The telephone rang — the one that’s connected to land and whose number is still in that thing called a “telephone book” —and I hurried to answer in case it was an important call.

It wasn’t, but thank you to the man on the other end who so kindly offered to do whatever he needed to make sure my Microsoft computer worked to my expectations. I hope his ear wasn’t damaged when my receiver was hung up with determination, after a tiny white falsehood disclaiming ownership of a computer.

Then the phone rang again, with call display showing a 693 prefix, suggesting it might be someone calling from down the street or across town. It was across a town alright, but the town wasn’t Moose Jaw and again I hung up on the caller who told me my Visa charge card needed attention. I don’t have one of that kind but give her an E for effort and for what must be extraordinarily thick skin.

Sometime later in the evening another call came in. “Unknown name” was listed on the display screen. Maybe it was the scam caller suggesting jail time from CRA if my taxes weren’t paid forthwith. Just what one needs to round off the day of annoying calls.

I answered and a lady’s voice on the other end pointed out that a friend who recently travelled with me had entered my name to receive a Christmas get-away vacation at the hotel chain who hired this telemarketer. I will not reveal the hotel’s name so as not to compromise any privacy laws and besides, I don’t want to give this company any unpaid promotional space.

The taped script said I would be able to pick the hotel’s location of my choice and while in residence, I would be treated to all sorts of amenities such a spa visits, esthetic treatments, fine dining experiences and discounts at nearby shops. Yeah, right.

There might have been some excitement if the other side of the conversation had been spontaneous, and if the reputation of this chain of hotels had not already been tarnished through past encounters.

I hung up before hearing the whole speech so therefore I wonder now if I weren’t hasty in disconnecting the call. Perhaps I should have waited to hear how much this getaway would cost me, for certainly there would be costs for being selected for this prestigious vacation prize. For Moose Jaw Express Secondly, maybe a Christmas retreat to a hotel by this name in Hawaii might have been a worthwhile trip of escape from snow and freezing rain, even with unspecified costs thrown in.

Most curious though, would be to learn the identity of the so-called friend who had recently travelled with me and entered my name. My only travel companion of any distance has been Housemate and he knows better than to enter my name in such phoney contests.

Maybe the nice lady will call again and provide answers to all those questions and might even be able to tell me if turkey is served on Christmas Day in this hotel’s restaurant in Hawaii. Winning minds need to know.