Jenn May Have Been a Robot

Today's telemarketing scum-scam: GATOR FORD. Sounds legit, right? Hey, if there's a gator in the name it's probably from Florida, and I can't see any reason to doubt the good intentions of a car dealership in Florida. Let's answer!

I got "Jenn," who said she was calling from the National Auto Warranty Something Something, and I told her that I was on the Do Not Call List, and had no prior relationship with the company, and that I should be taken off the list.

It's almost touching, isn't it? The faith one has in the power of words.

There was a pause, during which I could hear the room tone of the call center in the background, and then Jenn, confused, repeated the same line.

At this point I thought I might be dealing with a robot, and if so, I wanted to play. But if they had recorded voices queued up and ready to engage, did they add the sound of a telemarketing boiler-room to make it more authentic?

I'll never know. After a pause Jenn said she would take my name off the list. Sure you will.

I clicked over to the Do Not Call Complaint Registry Page, where I submitted a complaint. This has the same effect as a peasant in pre-Revolution France sending a letter to the King complaining that the local nobility is keeping his infant son awake with their hunting parties.

Here is the attitude of telemarketing companies toward the consumer:

GLUG Finally: a life-sized Titanic Simuator. Guardian:

I know what you're asking: does the actor who played Captain Smith in the movie approves of the venture?

So if he's okay with it, everyone should be fine.

VIDEO OF THE DAY Cartoon Brew says that CGI Charlie the Tuna is a thing the world did not need, and it's hard not to agree:

Eh?

Eh?

Astonishing realism aside, the voice is all wrong. The original was Herschel Bernardi, of course, doing a New York sixties hipster back when that meant "black glasses, beret, reefer" and the like. It would have been out of character for Charlie to want to be accepted by Starkist, since that suggested his hipster identity was just a pose, and he really yearned for mainstream acceptance. Or he wanted to be speared with a hook, dragged from his element, asphyxiated and chopped up. Depends on how you read the character.

Go here for Brew's collection of Chuck Jokes Charlie spots.

JAM THIS A writer goes in search of the origin of Artisanal Toast - yes, toast - and finds a small cafe in San Francisco: