Insurance agents truly redraw the boundaries of entrepreneurship. A case in point is the image you see here. Vidya forwarded it to me, and I guess it was sent to her by someone to whom an insurance agent sent it. I have, of course, removed any personally identifiable information before posting it here, lest the agent be subjected to random acts of anger.

I myself am unsure of my reaction to this. On the one hand, it is easy to instantly lament the poor taste and opportunism exhibited by the agent. Recognizing this reaction for the knee-jerk it is, I am forced to think of another way of looking at it. I tried to imagine how this would have happened. For narrative convenience, I am positing a male agent.

Insurance agent is sleepily browsing his morning paper, perhaps accompanied by a cup of strong coffee. He reads “Notes and Tips from a Survivor” (which is actually excerpted from HLL GM Rahul Welde’s email – about which people have blogged) and feels good – for after all, is that not what the piece is about. 

However, he does not let it go there. Being the canny self-marketer he must be if he is to sustain himself in the world of insurance agents, he has not let the reference to having insurance in the story go unnoticed. He carefully cuts out the story, pastes it on a piece of paper, adds his own copy, gets a friend to scan it in and blasts it off attached to the following email:

Dear Sir/Madam,

1. Please spare two minutes and go through the attachment, it is very important and vital specially the Practical Tip No 1. Please dont ignore it.

2. Also help your friends/collegues/relatives by sharing the information by forwarding this mail.

With regards,

He signs off with his name and mobile number, unwittingly sparking off a series of email forwards and reactions that vary from anger and outrage to amusement and hilarity. And at least one blog post!