For one hour a day, (on a different day each week) I avail myself to cold callers. Why? Part of the reason is that I know it can be a challenging (English Translation: Sucks!) job. I remember doing that as one of my first jobs when I was back in school. The second reason, is that every now and then you actually come in contact with a vendor/reseller that really works out for you and your agency. The other days of the week, cold calls get routed to a voicemail folder and I review them when I have the time.

Last week I got one of these calls from a copier leasing agency. After listening and sharing my agency’s plans for printing, publishing, etc., I figured he would send some info for me to review. I would then pass it down to someone else on the team to evaluate, and get back to me with a go/no-go vote. But seeing how we are in the middle of a previous engagement with Canon, I knew we weren’t going to be moving to a new platform soon. Not unless the new guy can make the numbers look really good. Finally, after reviewing their proposal, I let him know there was nothing in it for us at the time. I expected he would keep my info updated and call me again within 12 months or so.

What I didn’t expect was for this guy to start stalking me. Showing up to the office unannounced, hanging outside the building around opening or closing time; parking on the same level in the parking garage; even showing up as I was coming out of my favorite Thai restaurant to harangue me about this Konica proposal. I was half expecting to see an IT-version of Single White Female and see this guy wearing the exact same suits as me! Just when I was getting ready to tell this guy that his behavior is bordering on scary and to back off, he disappeared. I’m talking completely fell off the Earth. Was he dead somewhere with a suicide note with my name on it? I mean it was really eerie.

Turns out through the copier-guy grapevine, (and yes, there is one!) Copier-Stalker ended up getting fired for falsifying some sales documents and was facing litigation from some other non-profit that he fudged some numbers with it. WEIRD!

Lesson of the day: Watch out for uber-clingy cold-calls.

–Warrior