I have a Mexican timeshare. One of the dues you pay for using one is the “member update”. Theoretically, they spend 60 minutes with you making sure that you’re happy with the program and telling you about all the great new things they’ve done since the last update. What it really is is a few minutes of listening to what you have to say while they struggle to pay attention followed by a quick tour of a few rooms that no one ever really stays in (they are nice rooms). The remainder of the time is spent trying to get you to spend a small fortune upgrading your contract. You don’t really have to do the “member update”, but if you don’t you won’t get the discount or the free drinks. In general, you just barely break even for your trouble.
This year I was updated by Steve. Nice guy, I liked him. We went through the motions even though I made it pretty clear I wasn’t interested in spending gobs of money on an upgrade that in my case essentially gives me what I already have. He decided that since I’m single and over 50 that he’d toss in a few facts about Mexico that I might be interested in. For a paraphrased example, “Did you know that in Mexico the socially acceptable age spread for a couple is as much as 25 years? In Thailand, it’s 30. In fact in Thailand, the women don’t like to have only one wife in the house because they have to do all the work; they prefer two or three.” Somehow we’d wandered off the topic of Mexico. Jokingly, I asked him if they had any packages like that. He said, “No, but I should consider the exchange program.” Steve’s good at this job.
I guess I won’t be enhancing any of my future Mexican vacations right away, but Thailand, … hmmm… 😉
Gross, dad.