Five years ago I bought a used car. Since then, I’ve taken it back to the dealer for routine maintenance.
Just now I got a phone call from someone at the dealership, wishing me a happy birthday. (It’s tomorrow.) The caller wasn’t anyone I’d dealt with, and didn’t even bother to give his name. It was like getting a “happy birthday” robo-call.
I can’t imagine who might find getting that call rewarding rather than annoying. My hope is that whoever came up with this idea was simply making a mistake; that happens. If it’s really true that there are people so starved for personal recognition that they’re pleased to get impersonal birthday wishes on behalf of a business, I’ll have to take another look at the “Bowling Alone” hypothesis.