San Francisco Blog

This morning, like so many San Franciscans, I received a cold-call from a man peddling subscriptions to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Unlike many San Franciscans, I received the call on my work phone -- my work being staff writer for the SF Weekly.

A discussion resembling the following ensued:

Shawn: Would you like to receive a year's subscription to the San Francisco Chronicle?

Your Humble Narrator: No ... this is awkward ... you've reached me at work here. You know, I work for a newspaper.

Shawn: But why not subscribe to the San Francisco Chronicle?

Your Humble Narrator: Well, like I said, I already write for a paper, the SF Weekly...

Shawn: Wouldn't you like to subscribe to the San Francisco Chronicle and compare it to this paper you write for?

Since Chronicle cold-callers are specifically instructed not to ever end a phone call even if you manage to drive a stake through their hearts and douse them with holy water, I resorted to the old "say 'have a good day!' nine times and hurriedly hang up the phone" trick.

Still, the whole experience got me to thinking: If the Chronicle is going to cold-call our staff writers, why not ring up its own? They may or may not read the paper, but they probably don't subscribe.

-- Joe Eskenazi