Social Engineering

     A few weeks ago I received a letter announcing my selection as an Arbitron survey participant. It was characterized as a great honor. It went in the recycling bin before I even entered the house. I underestimated the determination of the folks at Arbitron. They have called me at least 3 times a day for the last several days, in some cases leaving voice messages reminding me of my selection. Last night they called between 9 and 10 PM. This morning they called between 7:30 and 8:00 and I decided to firmly demand that they not call me again. I answered the phone and a polite young man named Chris apologized for the early hour and asked me if I listened to the radio at all last week. I decided to follow the path of least resistance and told him I had, and that the only radio station I listen to is the local NPR station. He was quite impressed by this, and to shorten the story, I agreed to participate in the survey. I realized as we talked, that I was doing something contradictory to my plan of action when I answered the phone. They will send me a log of some sort, and I will return it to them at the end of the survey period. He asked if they could “count on me” to return the survey. I felt compelled to explain to him that I would return it, and that the ONLY reason I was participating was to help him out, as I assume his performance is judged by how many surveys are returned. I also added that I did not care at all about Arbitron or what they do. He thanked me for my frank opinion.

     I have mixed feelings about the experience. On the positive side, it gave me a chance to make someone happy at a cost of about 10 minutes of my time and the survey itself should take little effort to complete and mail. On the negative side, my participation will help perpetuate the cycle of junk mail and phone calls. I also suspect that I will be put in a “special category” of people who agree to do things for complete strangers over the phone. I can’t imagine that’s a good category to be in.