That time I was a total sucker

Since we moved into our new house, we've been getting a ton of junk mail.  Like pounds of it.  Junk mail is one of my pet peeves.  A weird one, I know.  I can't believe companies spend money on direct mail pieces (my employer included)!  I spent a few minutes every morning this week calling companies and asking to be removed from their mailing list.  One of the pieces of junk mail I received (addressed to "Resident") was a shiny, colorful piece of card stock from a local car dealership telling me that I may have won a new car, $15,000 in cash, an iPad, or a Wal-Mart gift card.  Enticing, I know, especially the last prize.

I called their main line and simply asked to be removed from the mailing list.  Standard procedure.  Now, I have to give major props to the girl on the other line.  She asked which mailing piece I received, and I described it to her.  She then said, "Don't you want to claim your prize?"  Um, what?  She then proceeded to explain that if the number in the scratch off box matched the number printed on the paper, I was eligible for a prize, and to claim it I needed to make an appointment and come in.  I told her, Sorry, I'm not in the market for a car.  She said it's no problem, but I should come in and retrieve the prize that's rightfully mine.  I'm embarrassed to say that I made an appointment for 12:30pm that day.

I told my bf about this via text.  Surprisingly, he did not discourage me from going.  I would almost say, he encouraged me to go.  Probably so he could hear about how I awkwardly showed up at a car dealership demanding to be given the grand prize.  Well played, sir.

During my lunch break I drove to the car dealership on the other side of town through rush hour traffic, nervous that I'd look like a schmuck or a freeloader, or a wicked combination of both.  I arrived at the dealership and was welcomed by a super nice sales guy, whom I told, "I called to ask to be removed from your mailing list and the girl on the phone talked me into coming into claim my prize", as I proudly flashed the mailer to everyone in the show room.  "My appointment is at 12:30," I told him, thinking he'd bring me to a room behind a velvet rope where the prizes are kept alongside chilled bottles of champagne.  Instead, I sat down at his desk and he filled out a form with the info from my driver's license.  So now I'm probably on their permanent mailing list. Awesome.

"Now we'll walk over to The Board to see which prize you won!" he tells me, and parades me over to "The Board", which is in the back of the showroom, so everyone can laugh at the girl who came in to claim her prize.  I hate to admit that during this time I was thinking about all the house projects I could complete when I win the $15,000 grand prize.  I'm such a loser sometimes!

To win the good prize, the special number on your mailer has to match the number next to the picture of the pile of cash.  Mine didn't match that, or the new car, or the iPad... But EVERYONE is a winner at this dealership, so I won a Wal-Mart gift card in the amount of $5 to $25!  YEEE-HAW!

At the end of the day, I spent an hour of my time to drive to some obscure car dealership.  I came away with a Wal-Mart gift card and a purse full of business cards from the sales guy to pass out to friends.  The moral of the story: Direct mail really works!

Now I'm off to Wal-Mart to spend my gift card.  We're low on Funyuns.