The call comes at 7 PM, right before my dinner.

“Hello?” I answer.

 

Now, I understand that you are only doing your job, after all

Using the resources you were handed

Responding to the needs which you must utterly obtain

or face unimaginable repercussions

I understand that it is my job, as the submissive customer

To be polite,

To be understanding of those needs,

To meekly respond a simple no and hope that that is good enough.

 

But it is never good enough.

 

When you are frozen in that unbendable L-shape of the arm

Dying to hang up

Saying, “no, thank you”

“But you know you want to.”

“No, thank you.”

“You know you need to.”

“No, thank you.”

 

No is never considered an answer.

 

Even when things seem free, there is always a hidden cost.

The price you pay is the shrinking of your own pride,

compromising your own will,

The degradation of being suppressed by sweet trained words

of honey coated poison,

The inevitable defeat.

 

No means no.

Do not tell me what I need,

Do not tell me what I want,

What others are getting and what I should get.

Do not try to use underhanded marketing techniques

On a subpar product.

 

I know my own wants and needs, and I can tell you:

I don’t want or need any of what you are selling.