The Better Half does many things at work, some in his job description, and many, many more not. One of the thing’s that’s actually in his job description is marketing, and he’s more than a bit of a nerd about it. And more than a bit of a nerd, generally– he’ll read me something about typography or transportation or God-knows-what of teh Intarwebs, and when I ask him how he got there, it was from something only tangentially related that he read twenty minutes ago. Teh Intarwebs are good for people with Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (“Run and find out!”) interests. But fonts and web and book design and roads and canals and bridges and motorized stuff? Awww, yeah. He’s the nerdmaster. (Which is good. I am a nerd and I do love a nerdy man.)
So when people call the house to ask if we’ll answer a survey, he often says yes, partly because he wishes more people would give marketing feedback to his company, but partly because he’s interested in the design and content of other people’s surveys. Yep. He’s getting meta on the pollsters.
But usually, the surveys don’t take twenty minutes, like they did the other night. I’d made meat and onions for Super Taco Salad and when he got home he agreed to assemble it. Except then the phone rang, and twenty minutes later I’m all “Where’s my damned taco salad?” and he’s still choosing answers ranked from zero to five. I mean, what the heck?
My answer came ten minutes later (and I say, yet again, how long does it take to answer a phone survey, much less make me my damned taco salad?).
“Who was that?”
“Amtrak– wanted to know what we thought about the Acela line service.”
Ah. A marketing survey about superfast trains. It’s a wonder he wasn’t on the phone longer, asking the guy questions back– or offering to go over to his place to redesign those survey elements he thought were less effective.
At least I got my damned salad.
It is six in the morning in California and I want a taco salad now.
Cheri @ Blog This Mom!s last blog post..You Wanna Know What Comes Between Me and My Whoppers?
Just be glad the survey wasn’t about Macintosh or Wii. You might have had to compose your own taco salad!
He’s funny. Does he actually take the train?
I remember an argument I had a long time ago with some co-workers, about the Nielsen questionnaires. I owned a TV, but never watched. They thought I should be disqualified from answering the survey, that my lack of watching would skew things. I still believe exactly the opposite — my lack of watching is a valid response to a survey on TV watching.
magpies last blog post..Snow
I think I like your Better Half. I’ve been known to get distracted by a bit about typography. And lots of other topics. Nerds unite!
Now I have an urge to put together a survey about surveys.
alejnas last blog post..moo
I love to take a survey–I’m all about sharing my opinion!
Jenn @ Juggling Lifes last blog post..Words That Break My Heart And Words That Make My Heart Sing
I take surveys too. I am always very curious about what people want to know and I don’t consider myself an average consumer, so I like to mess up the statistics. I like the ones that get sent to my home with a little pencil and I can really take the time and think about my answers. I like to mess with their minds.
Irenes last blog post..Even though…
Sounds pretty much like my other half. I always try and get there first to tell his pal from ‘forests forever’ that he’s not home, otherwise he’ll be tied up for an hour, away with the fairies, and not functioning in his paternal and spousal role.……just for a change.
Cheers
Maddys last blog post..Why do I have to? By Lauri Leventhal-Belfer, illustrated by Luiza Montaini-Klovdahl