Vredehoek man overwhelmed with thoughtful and spontaneous birthday greetings from many companies

Pesque Andratief of Vredehoek is raving about the tremendous range of birthday greetings he received on Sunday. 'The avalanche started early on, around 7 am, with a heartfelt tribute from Vodacom International. To think, this was a Sunday morning, early, and some thoughtful person at Vodacom, from somewhere in the world, took the time and trouble to send me a birthday salutation. I mean, I hadn't even woken up yet but there it was as soon as I turned on my phone. So, whoever it was, was thinking that they needed to get the message out before I woke up so that that greeting was the first thing I saw. I tell you, from that point on my day was made!' Pesque never stopped receiving birthday messages, throughout the day. 'Sure, some of my friends and family sent Whatsapps, sms messages or internet cards and I even got a few calls but these didn't really stack up when the likes of Clicks, Old Mutual, Mekor, Facebook and a host of others were messaging me all day with their thoughtful missives. Think of it, these are big companies with zillions of customers, yet they have people dedicated to thinking of their valued clients on these special occasions, Sundays and all.' What Pesque finds especially amazing is that in many cases he can't even remember giving his birthday details to the companies sending messages. 'Somehow they just seem to have discovered my special day and planned a dedicated greeting. I mean, how do these guys even get this information? It's not like there's some Big Brother watching over me who's divulging my personal details or anything. They must have teams of researchers briefed to get out there and dig up personal data so that they can make your day on these memorable occasions.' For one thing, he isn't even a customer of some of the companies that singled him out on his birthday. And he often gives an incorrect birthday date in questionnaires because he doesn't want strangers to know his age. Pesque is now wondering what other kinds of special events these companies may want to share with him between now and his next birthday. Or other companies that he hasn't yet heard from.