You give a reference.   Instead of said provider calling your new prospective date back to give the OK, she calls you to hussle another date?



-- Modified on 2/5/2003 2:27:33 PM

It's a sure sign of a bad economy when times are so tough for providers that they call me!  I'm sure my typical reference sounds like "he's all yours sucker!"

There's really two sides to this.  From the hobbyist side, it's a little dangerous.  If you know the guy well enough to know that it's okay to call, then it may be fine.  But it may be that unknown to you, he told the other provider "please don't call me back before 8pm" or "My grandpa's borrowing my cell phone so drop me an e-mail."  In other words, you may be injecting yourself into a situation that catches the guy off guard and causes some disappointment toward you.

From the provider side, there's real problems.  There seems to be some tension among the TC providers regarding references lately, for reasons I'm not aware of.  I'm assuming it's the natural competitive angst of a tight economy.  But it's just like job references--every company wants to get them, and no company wants to give them, so who loses out...  EVERYBODY.  This call may create a one-time opportunity for a date, but also starts a domino effect in which everyone - the hobbyist and both providers - ultimately lose because the reference system falters.

We're not talking used-car sales here.

The referral system only works if the providers cooperate.