Saturday, August 19, 2006

triple r subscription dilemma

i know i haven't posted here for a long time, but i just don't feel like giving a detailed explanation. i relocated. i went back home. that's it.

something funny happened right now, and i'd like to hear your opinion about it.

triple r is my favorite radio station. it's an independent radio station from melbourne, australia. they count only on donations(subscriptions)from listeners to keep going. so i thought it'd be a great idea if i could do something for them, having in mind that i listen to them quite often.

i just called them and the woman who took my call was very nice to me. there was one thing, though, i could pay only by credit card or bank card. when i asked whether i could pay by bank transfer, she had to ask the people around her if that's possible.
and here's the thing. when she told them i was from bulgaria, someone started laughing. i'm not quite sure that's the surprised reaction of someone. smile, yes. laughing about it for 2 minutes? i don't think so.

so, my question is: am i victimizing myself for being discriminated against as an eastern european or was that person just really surprised? whattaya think?

i have one month left to transfer the money (there is a way, it turned out). but i'd like to know if the people i'm helping are really that open minded as they say the are.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If they laughed at you for being from Bulgaria, they definitely don't have much self-respect.

silent_genius said...

I'd say it was a surprise effect, but laughing about it for 2 minutes is overdoing it.

//mel - not really picking one clear answer.

Anonymous said...

hello!

i randomly came across your blog and since i am an australian and can give you an objective answer i decided to post you a comment.

honestly, i think you've been laughed at in the sense you put by saying "discriminated against", but not because you are eastern-european, let alone bulgarian, but because people who run such kind of entertainment and are from one and the same country, even city, maybe even one home, do not feel need for others' help, which results in self-sufficiency. and as time goes this self-sufficiency turns into pure, irrevokable, arrogant behavior.

i can give you an advice though. if you really want to deal with online radios, find a radio which is ran by people from different countries. i think that they will not refuse help from just another international professional... it will just be natural.
i hope i made some sense. and wish you luck!

Anonymous said...

well, I think there is only one answer - they thought they were being set up, a practical joke. Because, they either could never believe that someone from Bulgaria would even know about their radio station let alone contribute, or, even more likely, they were ignorant to the fact that there was a country called Bulgaria and thought that that itself was a joke.

Or the most likely scenario was that they have never actually have subscriptions, and she was wetting her pants about it.

Or maybe they were just being rude morons.