I get a lot of phone calls, many from phone numbers I don’t recognize. I’m a man of technology, preferring to do my business over email and text messages, so I let many go straight to voice mail.
When a Texas-based call came in today, I hit “ignore” on my cell, instead deciding to fight with the slightly-broken Killzone 2 beta servers. When I checked the voice mail later, I was greeted by a high-pitched shriek in my ear. It was a recorded message of a woman named Ashley, calling on behalf of GameStop to remind me that they’d be holding a Wednesday midnight release for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
“We invite you to join us early at 10 p.m. to join in the fun,” she shouted excitedly into my ear, “including dressing up like your favorite character in preparation for the GameStop ultimate costume [unintelligible] national sweepstakes!”
It’s the loudest call I’ve ever received; by the end I’m dizzy and my ears are ringing. Why GameStop would think that anyone, much less a World of Warcraft fanatic, would be OK with having someone call them up to shout promotional details in their ear is beyond me. Haven’t they heard of subtlety? Couldn’t they have gotten a WOW voice actor to deliver these details in a calm, even tone? Jesus.
Best part: I didn’t even reserve Wrath of the Lich King. Damn it.
