The OH & I in one of our gullible moments signed up for those marketing gimmicks that promise you fancy treats in return for 90 minutes of your time to enable them to lure you with interesting offers. Let me go on the record and say that both us hate telemarketers and their scams (am sure you are thinking who does) but every once in a while we still fall prey to these offers. So on Friday last week, we found ourselves driving a little too far to sit through one of these presentations. Adding to my woes was the fact that this place was a stone’s throw away from my work place and ironically, I had to drive all the way back home before we could haul ourself back on the same route I had just driven to get back to this so called attractive presentation. The only solace was that driving the second time around fell upon the OH that gave me the time to chat with him and day dream.
As we made our way to this building, we were distracted by many a number of fun activities unfolding in front of our eyes, a wonderful outdoor wine bar, stage setup for live music to add to a gorgeous spring evening. Wishing we could be part of that instead of the indoor presentation we had to endure, we dragged our feet into this beautifully decorated lobby. We were soon given a pad and questionnaire to fill out prior to being ushered in by a young man who after one look at our faces felt compelled to say that albeit his being young he had been doing this work for a few years now.
We had warned the friends and parents at home that we would be unable to have long phone conversation during the presentation and would call them soon after. Tentative plans were made to hang out with said friends after the meeting since they were dining close to the place we were in. Confident with all the planning, we were about 5 minutes into the meeting when the OH’s cell phone buzzed. He had barely been back for 5 minutes when my cell buzzed. As I saw the call was from India, I rushed immediately worried (as goes with the territory) that something was amiss with the set of parents there. I picked up the phone and had barely said hello when I heard a very flustered f-in-law asking us to call him ASAP. In between the meeting I found a quick opportunity to whisper this message to the OH who excused himself for a few minutes to call his dad & ensure all was well back home.
Smiling intermittently at the person seated facing me, I waited wondering what was keeping the OH. As he was taking longer than a few moments, the worry wart that I am, I tried walking over to the OH, but came face to face with the manager who wanted to know if we’d like to reschedule the meeting. In the light of having to endure this yet another day, I finally made eye contact with the OH and wondered if anything was wrong. He fortunately walked back in to listen to the rest of the offers being placed in front of us. I have to admit that what the sales person offered was a piece of paradise but given current affairs with the new home and every expense that comes with it, the OH & I were for once able to stand together and walk out of that place without swiping the plastic, an act that we were positive we would regret later. Patting ourselves on each other’s back for being able to make the tough choice, we walked out of there and I was finally able to ask the OH all about the frantic phone call.
He told me all was well back home except for the said parents being very worried about a few developments in the life of their second born. They were reaching out to us to get some moral support and guidance given the geographical distance that separated them from their pods. Given the circumstances, OH had promised to call them in an hour. Just as we stepped in the house, his mom called to say that the crisis was a work in progress and little help was needed at this point.
Given the circumstances, OH & I felt that we were finally the ones who had been deprived of a nice evening hanging out with friends we love to spend our weekends with.
