Ever wonder what happened to my 8,932 miles on Podunk Airlines? Or those 5,331 rewards points on that ridiculous hotel chain that I thought I was going to be loyal to? I will tell you exactly what did happen.
It got converted into smelly papers. Smelly what?
Here is the scoop - Americans love to carry cards in their wallet. These cards belong to variety of clubs and super markets and airlines and hotels. Every aspect of daily life has a fan following or so it would seem and then as more and more businesses try to grapple with the same set of people they keep offering all of these people some ridiculous reward after another.
I am of course referring to the ubiquitous rewards for everything culture that has come to pervade modern society (esp in the US).
As people consume copious amounts of that new non fat yogurt or extra creamy gelato or fill their feet into that newest sneaker sensation they earn those extra bonus points. These collect in various impossible to remember buckets like lost bank accounts. If you think about it they do have intrinsic value in that they are currency for specific purpose. You cannot buy dinner with those sneaker points but you can get laces next time you stop in that store. Now its another matter entirely that no one in their right mind buys laces anymore - they just get new shoes...much like the ball point pen refills that are meant for the museums as no one actually refills their pens anymore.
So there is this exchange or points broker business that takes all these little wayward points that people seem to collect every time they sneeze or walk past a mall or a fast food place trying to woo your wallet to come and see the peep show.
They process them for a fee paid by the provider of the points and in turn them into even more devalued and meaningless pieces of rewards that are good for only one thing - retarded magazines and periodicals that are trying to peddle more of those same fast foods, airlines, perfumes and sneakers. Ah ha - you burn so you can burn some more - money that is.
So it is that I turned in my collection of these gillion little points and subscribed to a whole host of face and body altering; car tire changing solution providing or eyebrow toning magazines. Filled with awards and articles around beauty (for you and your car) these magazines did provide one little nugget that was quite useful.
Each came with copious amounts of sample perfumes attached to a little strip of foldout papers with some unusually made up face from the silverscreen touting the ageless fragrant nature of the product. I ripped them all out and put them in all of my clothing - pockets, drawers even stuck it on hangers. Now the entire wardrobe smells - how do I say it - divine!
On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
You can't complain now that all marketing is useless- the perfume story proves it. Now if only someone can reward you and your home for smelling good....
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