When Calling in Sick Is Not Enough
I was tempted to title this post "markets in everything", but I just couldn't steal that moniker from the Marginal Revolution folks. USA Weekend has a story about the Alibi Network, which will, for a price of course, create an alibi for you:
Whether you
are looking to skip a day of work or to secretly leave town for the
weekend, Alibi Network can provide fake airline receipts or phone calls
to your boss explaining your absence and even mock up an entire
itinerary for a bogus conference you were "attending." Rarely has lying
been so creepily airtight.The
Chicago-based company charges from $75 for a simple phone call to
thousands of dollars for extensive lying, on top of a $75 annual fee.
The most popular service is the "virtual hotel," in which the fibber
can provide a boss or family member with the phone number of a hotel
where he's supposed to be. The number rings to one of Alibi's phones,
which are staffed by actors who will answer as if a particular hotel
has been reached. The incoming call then can be forwarded to the
fibber's cellphone, making it seem as if he's in a certain city even
though he's not. (We use "he" here, but half of Alibi's members are
female.)Some
requests involve a creative solution. One working stiff asked the
service to get him out of a boring, week-long training class that was
mandated by his office. The solution: Alibi hired an actor to dress up
as a courier and barge into the class, informing the man that his house
had been robbed and he needed to go home right away. Another request
involved a married woman with small children who longed for a relaxing
weekend away from the kids. Alibi concocted a story that the woman had
won a free spa weekend in a prize drawing and hired an actor to call
her home and leave a voicemail message informing her of her "win."
For those of you of need of such services, perhaps on January 2 nursing your hangover, their web site is here.
Update: Tyler Cowen informs me that I am waaaayyy behind the times, and that this company actually was the first entry in "Markets in Everything" several years ago. That's what I get for trying to take a break from blogging.
Larry Sheldon:
Years ago we had a better (certainly a lot cheaper) plan. I worked for a Large Corporation that had 9 computer installations around the state (this was back in the day that if you want to watch your program run, you had to go where the computer was).
Tell the folks at your office (in Large MidState City) that you were going to SuburbV of Large City In Southern Part of State. Call them and cancel the scheduled test time because you had to go to Capital for some reason. Call *them* and ..... Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Until you had used up the RAO in Large MidState City (a few blocks from your office), Middling Large City in the Southern part of the state, the more-or-less downtown office in Large City In Southern Part of State, SuburbA of Large City In Southern Part of State and the rest of the nine offices. Loops were permitted.
December 30, 2007, 12:48 pmBill Nettles:
Teachers are having an especially hard time these days with "grandma died" excuses from students. Because of the divorce rate, kids might have 6 sets of grandparents and 20 aunts. It's a built-in excuse to miss class/test/final exam WITHOUT lying.
December 31, 2007, 5:18 pm