THE WEEKEND WARRIOR -
I think all of us have that friend who cannot say no to shopping. They’re the kind who, show them a discount and they’d purchase anything even when they don’t need the item.
In Oman, I know of almost a dozen friends who are like this. I’ve stopped getting annoyed with the nonchalance because, at one point, I also fell prey to the habit.
The one that amuses me now is an acquaintance who eventually became a close friend. Her quirk is a little bit different and since it’s working to her advantage, I support her all the way.
She’s the kind of friend who joins all kinds of competition online and she always drags me along with her so-called ‘hobby.’
Win 50 OMR for sharing a photo of your last travel? Check.
Win a vacation somewhere in Asia by using this hashtag? Check.
Win a gadget by tagging a friend? Check.
Take a photo of your dog and win a breakfast for two? Check.
I think in a week, I get 10 notifications of online contests that she tagged me on. And this is not just in one social media platform.
In the beginning, it was irritating. I almost clicked the block button when she tagged me on three of them simultaneously. Going through her social media feed, it seems like she created her account just for the sole purpose of joining such contests and it wasn’t as fun to those who would like to maintain a little of what’s left of their privacy online.
In hindsight however, I realised that what she is doing wasn’t bad. It wasn’t just my cup of tea.
When she won a breakfast for two and I saw in her photos that she and a loved one was enjoying the food, it made sense to me and I understood. That’s pretty much 60 OMR of savings for one meal and eating it for free makes it even more enjoyable.
In our three months of friendship, I saw her won shopping vouchers, home supplies, and beauty products. This kind of promotion exploded on social media now and I think, if you’re not going to join the bandwagon, you need to change the setting of your social media accounts so they won’t be able to tag you. That or officially send the message that you don’t like it and therefore is blocking them for it. This kind of quirk is something I can tolerate — because they are winning it through ethical means and it’s what the contest required.
What I cannot tolerate however are people impersonating someone just so they can enjoy the freebies. Working in the newspaper, I’d been asked many times by companies if I know someone named so-and-so cause they were saying they work for our company.
These impersonators would pretend to be working for the newspaper or media house so that they can either enjoy a free breakfast at a restaurant, experience a free one night stay at a posh hotel, or go on a trip for free.
Of course, many of the companies are not running after these impersonators. First, it’s too much waste of time and second, they don’t want it to backfire in case they got things wrong.
One of the near victims of this scheme suggested that because we are being wronged and our company’s name is being dragged to the mud, she recommended that we pursue these people actively. Unfortunately, taking legal action is not within my purview so I leave it to my company on how to handle it.
Although I’d like to ask why some people are doing this, I usually answer my own questions. You cannot expect ethics and integrity from some people and it’s the reason why laws are in place because wrongdoers will keep doing what they are doing.
Just a word of caution to business owners, if this has happened to you and somebody misrepresented themselves, do what you think is right. Do not let people get away with it otherwise, they will keep on doing this.
Arm yourself with the right kind of information and always verify. If you are not sure where the person is coming from, asked who they are reporting to and ask for references.
And if somebody approaches you to tell you that they are working for Oman Daily Observer and you are not sure, our email information can be found anywhere in this newspaper. Don’t be afraid to pick up a phone — it’s not gonna cost you that much.
It’s not a good experience to fall prey to this impersonators. The best thing you can do is be smart and always double check.
yru.weekend@gmail.com
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
