Yesterday, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, I receive a telephone call at work. There is that characteristic pause after connecting which tells me that I have probably just been called by a telemarketer.

“Hello?”

— Hello, I’m Brian George from Liquid Capital Management. Our company founder, Brian Kim, has been working closely with Microsoft employees to help them with financial matters. Are you familiar with hedge funds?

I hear another voice in the background. This is almost certainly a boiler room operation.

“There appears to be another voice on the line, do you hear it? Oh wait, it’s gone. Could you repeat the name of your company?”

— It’s Liquid Capital. Are you the Chief Financial Officer?

“Liquid Capital Corporation?”

— No, Liquid Capital Management. Are you familiar with hedge funds?

“And your company’s founder’s name, is that spelled with a Y or an I?”

— With an I. Are you familiar with hedge funds?

“I’m sorry, if you could just answer a few questions so I can log this call properly. You are Brian George from Liquid Capital Management. I assume your name is spelled with an I as well?”

— Yes.

“Excellent. And where is your company based?”

— We’re in New York City.

“Okay, and what is your phone number, in case we get disconnected?”

— 646-237-4400. Are you familiar with hedge funds?

“Okay, thank you for your patience. Now, what was it you would like to talk about?”

(Silence.)

Apparently, Mr. George became impatient with my call logging procedure and hung up. I try calling him back, but an automated voice tells me, “We’re sorry. The party you have dialed is not accepting calls at this time.”

He was calling after business hours in New York, so maybe it was some sort of emergency. Gosh, I hope he wasn’t calling about anything important.