The end must be near

When you pick up the telephone and it is a nice man from American Express (AXP:NYSE) calling, your mind immediately jumps between two places:

– did I pay my last bill?
– has someone bilked my card and run up huge internet poker debts?

Fortunately, it was neither. He was merely calling to remind me of an invitation they had sent my wife and I to an “evening of contemporary art, cocktails and dinner”. The date didn’t work, which is probably why I never thought to respond to the invitation. Ok, I don’t recall the invite.

But that’s not the point. Since I got my first Amex card in the early 90s, I’ve never had the delight of being invited to a customer appreciation event.

This can only mean one thing. If Amex is wooing the little guy with the delights of wine and cheese, times are tougher than we know.

MRM